Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Merry Christmas everyone!

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!  I will be gone until the 15th of January as I will be on vacation in Southeast Asia.  My wife and I are going to check out Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam.  There will be tons of great sights to see, food to eat and awesome cultures to explore.  I wish everyone here a safe and joyous holiday season.  Take care!

When I return, I will be playing some more Dystopian Wars since that seems to be the new (old) hype in town.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

DW: The British and their torpedoes

Long live the Queen!

The first thing I have to say is:  Holy shit man, torpedo spam with British is strong!  I played my friend James today and he brought a list with no larges except for the Vengeance Class Submarine.  Everything else was Cruisers and smalls, but man, the list was absolutely brutal.  After facing such a list, I'm not sure if I would consider the British underpowered anymore.

I'm just going to capture the highlights from the game:
  • Overall, I can't say I'm too happy with the performance of the EotBS fleet.  The Hachiman Otsu-Gata is still pretty bad for the points and the Raijin War Gyro is just very unimpressive.  Flying units in general, unless of course, you're a flying Dread like the CoA Euclid are just awful in this game.  They have less protection than naval units, Obscured is just garbage because you're hardly contributing to the battle, and the damage you inflict is mediocre.
  • The core design for the EotBS fleet is just a huge gimmick in my opinion.  Rockets in general are very subpar in earlier stages of the game when squadrons are healthy and at full strength.  They become even more subpar once the enemy closes in on you while your gimmicky rockets and subpar Raging Fire effects get weaker, and can be consistently dispelled with AA and repair rolls.  Because of this dependency on rockets, EotBS gunnery takes a huge hit as well (weaker at long range).  The design of the faction wants you to weaken the enemy with rockets first, then close in with strong guns and solid boarding.  Sadly, if those rockets don't do what they're supposed to do, the enemy closes in and outguns you pretty easily.  All this is happening while the other factions hammer you with torpedoes (more difficult to defend against), vastly superior long-range gunnery (4+, no AA or CC protection), and other "gimmicks" that straight up inflict the desired result (Tesla, for example).  In short, dependency on rockets and Raging Fire suck.
  • This British list I faced however, hot damn it can inflict an assload of damage from all range bands.  I'm not sure entirely what his list was, but it had Agincourt Gunships, Dominion Support Cruisers tagging 2x units of Orion Destroyers, 2x Lord Hood Battlecruisers in a squadron, and a squadron of Tribals Cruisers.  Once the Dominions started target painting my stuff, it was bad news bears as his Orions just lit up everything that I had.  I was very surprised at the lack of larges in this list, but the damage that it was able to inflict on my forces were horrendous.
  • It's been a long time since I've seen the British preform this well and I can only imagine that the support box and the Lord Hood helped with that.  The Vengeance Sub is just a pain in the back side because he'll just creep along the water on my sides while constantly pouring dice from afar.  The good thing about the Sonar Target Painters is that once one target is lit up, everything else that shoots at them get +1 to hit with their torpedoes.  This is especially dangerous with the British Destroyers (I think the best DD in the game) because their damage potential is so great.  Not just that, their range is insane and the fact the Dominions can be attached to them is just ludicrous.  A unit of 4x Orions with an attached Dominion is 215 points, but with this, you gain the ability to do long-range torpedo death.  Well worth it to me.
  • James' entire list just made sense from a synergy perspective:  There was a healthy amount of squadrons, hull points and target saturation on the battlefield, plus the fact there were 4 different Target Painters.  With the Target Painters active, Water Hunters all over the place, and torpedoes from every which way, the only thing that was really safe was my Raijin.  That is, until he got closer to do damage with his guns and got annihilated by combined gunnery from the British.  That 6/9 is just asking to get killed, especially when you can't screen him and you contribute almost nothing to the battlefield if you go Obscured.
  • The Lord Hood is by far the best Battlecruiser in the game.  It moves 8", has Sharp Turn and packs dreadnought-class guns.  Even when it hung out in the backfield, 2 of these things manages to throw out 14 AD from RB4.  This becomes 21 dice at RB3, 22 at RB2, and 29 at RB1.  Now I'm not sure what the justification was for having this kind of firepower from two of these ships, but these guys were insanely good in the game that we played.  The damage potential from these guys made them absolutely killer when cruising parallel of my fleet.  That 14/21 at RB4 and 3 just can't be ignored.
  • Truth be told, the mission objectives in the game need some work.  James needed to kill 70% of my fleet and I only needed to kill 50% of his, including smalls.  With my Dreadnought taking up 280 of those points, I managed to snag the game from him when one of my Ikas caught up and ate his Vengeance submarine.
TLDR:  If you're playing Kingdom of Brittania, you better be spamming torpedoes.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

The end of competitive 40K

The beginning of the end.

With the recent datasheets, Escalation, Strongholds, Titans, and crazy netlists, I think competitive 40K is finally going to die.  Events and TOs out there have already started making restrictions, rules and banlists to counteract GW's efforts at making the casual game that it was set out to be.  If you look at how the game is designed, how the army books are written, and how the current edition of rules (6th) promotes a cinematic form of gameplay, you will know this game was never meant to be played in a competitive setting.  You know what?  Good.  I hope 40K dies as a competitive game.

Frankly, I don't know what happened to 40K from 5th edition going into 6th.  Out of all the years I've played 40K, I've sat and watched power armies rise and fall like autumn leaves.  Poetic, I know, but shouldn't this be a clear sign that the books were not designed with balance in mind in the first place?  God knows I love game balance,  but GW is not a company who makes its money from eSports or tournament players, they make their money from their lore/model fans.  As much as GW loves free publicity and marketing provided by these external tournaments, they don't need it to run their business.

As a widely-labeled competitive player myself, I'm a bit ashamed to see what the meta has turned into.  I'm saying this as a player who's lived through the early days of Nidzilla, Mechdar and Lash Princes to seeing what the game has become now (Taudar, Cronair, Screamerstar).  For the older players out there, how are you still enjoying this kind of play?  I sincerely hope you're not and you've moved onto greater and better things.  For the newer players out there, I tell you this:  This is not how the game is supposed to be played.  It took me a long time to realize it myself, but once you get out of that repetitive circlejerk you'll find yourself having more fun with your hobby.

Truth be told:  With all these tournaments out there making up their own rules, it's only a matter of time before 40K turns into Warhammer ETC.  Before you know it, you won't be playing the same game you started the hobby with, and that's a sad, sad thing.  It divides the community, alienates newer players and kills the hobby for a lot of older players.  None of these are a good thing and best way to solve this is not get involved in any competitive circuits.

DW: A game and some thoughts

Melting through all your ships.

I played a game today vs. my friend Kyle's FSA force with my French.  Since my Attack Flotilla haven't arrived yet, you will not see any of the newer stuff here.  No matter though, at 1000 points, my French were well-equipped to fight against the opposition.

My Fleet:
Charlemagne DN, Cloud
+Toulon CA
Magenta MkII, Cloud
+Toulon CA
Couronne BCV, Cloud
5x Fighters, 1x Recon
3x Escuyer CA
4x Chevalier DD
5x Torpedo
5x Torpedo

Kyle's Fleet:
Independence BB
+2x Springfield Escorts
Valley Airship
4x Lee Scoutships
3x Lexington CA
4x Augusta FF
4x Augusta FF
5x Torpedo
5x Torpedo

Some notes from the game:

  • The Toulon MkII ships are great upgrades for my heavier ships.  Not only do they add extra dice on the defense of my larger vessels, but the extra Heat Lance is absolutely monstrous.  This elevates the relatively unimpressive 2x DR to 3x on a major target and that's just amazing.  For the extra 80 points, this brings the Charlemagne package up to 320 points.  Pretty expensive, but worth the points if you deploy and screen well.
  • His Independence BB got within RB3 of my forces, went full stop and started pounding my Couronne.  Sadly, he was unable to inflict any damage on my forces over the course of 3 turns.  On the third turn, I was able to throw 21 dice with my Charlemagne + Toulon's Heat Lances into the BB, forcing a crit that he turned into no damage with some incredible shield saves (-7 damage).  No matter though, the Indie was pretty much deadweight since it did not do any damage to any of my forces.
  • The combination of Retardant Armor and Cloud Generator is super strong at denying enemy damage.  When the dust settled, the only bit of damage that my opponent inflicted was on activation turns that he was able to 1. seize initiative and 2. go before my Cloud generator could activate.  Where a few of my ships took good damage from his forces, the Redoubtable Heat Lances just kept chewing through his forces (due to FSA's high DR).
  • I was extremely surprised at how much damage his Augutas were pouring out.  Not only do they have good 4/5 DR/CR, but they were throwing out upwards of 16 dice at some of my ships.  With their good speed and damage, I will be wise never to underestimate them again.  I had Torpedo planes ready to go most of the time but I was saving them for the bigger ships.  A mistake I'll never make again, that's for sure.
  • Speaking of surprises, the Lexington CAs have an amazing amount of AP to throw around.  FSA in general took me a little off-guard with the sheer amount of boarding actions that they can take.  Not only do they have Sharpshooters to drop my AP, but their Lees and Lexingtons can really put on the hurt in boarding.  Lee Scoutships are really solid when it comes to boarding my ships:  They can throw huge amounts of AP at me while I'm unable to board his ships in return because they're flying.
  • After the game, Kyle said it probably would of been better if he had went Obscured for more rounds to deny my shooting since he was shooting at Cloud Genrators anyway.  This was a pretty good call.  The Valley and the Lees didn't do as much damage as he would of liked because of the French's fleet's AA.
  • Speaking of AA, a lot of people look down on Escuyers but I find them to be quite good for 165 points for 3x.  They have a crazy amount of shots against enemy air with their threat range of 22" (6" move + 16" guns) and re-rolls, plus their 90 degree secondary turrets are solid firing solutions with 7/6/5/-.  For the points, I find them hard to beat for how much versatility they can put out.  Maybe this will change if my opponents stop bringing air units completely.
  • My Chevalier DDs were largely useless this game and most of our TFT did nothing to each other's ships.  Kyle said he'll probably swap out the Valley for the New Orleans the next time around and maybe take a dreadnought of his own.  While a lot of people see the Charlemagne as a lesser DN, I find it to be very good in every single game I've ever taken her.  She has an amazing amount of gun coverage and firing solutions as well as 2x Heat Lances that can be directed on either side.  Now with the ability to take a supporting Toulon, I can't see myself playing a larger game without it.

Which brings me to another point:  Do you think dreadnoughts should be LA 1250?  Are they too much for a player to handle at 1000 points if they don't bring one?  Are they undercosted, or are they fine?

Thursday, December 12, 2013

DW: Back in the saddle

Ottomans man, damn they're sexy.

Yes, you read correctly.  Instead of wasting my time with Escalation in 40K, I've decided to invest some more time in an old favorite.  I'm officially back and playing Dystopian Wars on top of making commitments in Firestorm Armada.  What can I say?  I've been loving the stuff that Spartan Games have been doing for their games because I honestly feel like they care about their fanbase.  I read over the 2.0 rules for Firestorm and it looks like they touched upon a lot of the areas players were having issues with.  They streamlined the rules, made them easier to understand and cleared up a lot of things that were confusing and unneeded.  On top of this, they added a lot of player suggestions and developed their project around community feedback and player expectations.

With that said, I now own a total of 3 fleets.  I have the Empire of the Blazing Sun, which were my first army but right now, they're probably my least favorite.  I'm not entirely sure why that is, but I think it has something to do with the lack of special rules and the over-reliance on gimmicky mechanics such as Incendiary Rockets and Raging Fires.  The Sharp Turn MAR on all the ships is the only saving grace since I absolutely love maneuverability.  While not as movetastic as the Japanese, the French is probably my favorite fleet at the moment.  They have really cool abilities in both aesthetic design and fantasy so that's really appealing to me.  The thought of Heat Lances ripping superheated holes into the side of ships while Cloud Generators shroud your advance is way cool.  That's why for my third fleet, I've recently decided to pick up Ottomans.  While I don't like the idea of flying ships, I really like the aesthetic design of the Ottoman ships and the fact they're riddled with broadsides.  The fact that they can generate storms through their Firtina Generators that can be used offensively or defensively is just too much.  Oh, and they can ally with the French, so I can't wait to try some allied fleets out and see what happens.

Oh, and incase you're wondering what happened to my Tyranid pictures.. let's just say I got contacted by GW Legal.  The pictures are gone, but I'm sure you can find them elsewhere on the net!

Sunday, December 1, 2013

FA: Directorate and Aquans

Kill everything in sight.

After creating a bunch of lists over the last couple of days, I think I've finally found something that I'm comfortable with.  I'm definitely going to be playing Directorate and Aquans as my primary fleets, as I'm a huge fan of having one good faction and one evil faction with completely different playstyles.

1200
Directorate

Persecution DN = 325
Improved Shields
Upgraded Engines I
Decreased Turn Limit
Biohazard Ammo
Special Forces

Eliminator BB = 220
Improved Shields
Upgraded Engines I
Decreased Turn Limit
Biohazard Ammo
Special Forces

Eliminator BB = 220
Improved Shields
Upgraded Engines I
Decreased Turn Limit
Biohazard Ammo
Special Forces

3x Abraxas CA = 195
Biohazard Ammo
Special Forces

4x Enforcer FF = 120
Biohazard Ammo

4x Enforcer FF = 120
Biohazard Ammo

This list is pretty straight forward:  Put Biohazard Ammo on everything that I can while maintaining a good amount of Special Forces on all my ships.  Three big ships allow me to put out a lot of damage and the -1 Turn Limit is absolutely mandatory on any ship that has a Fore Fixed weapon.  The extra speed allows me to cover a greater arc of fire and gives me a little more range to launch assaults.  Due the bigger ships packing unimpressive long range damage, the faster I can get close to the enemy the better.  Since most of my ships already have Reinforced Fore, adding a little bit more Shields really improves their durability on the battlefield.  I'm a pretty big fan of the Abraxas Cruiser's impressive cost to effectiveness ratio.  They have good speed, biohazard turrets and comes charging with Special Forces and 12 AP.

1200
Aquan Prime

Manta BCV = 270
Improved Shields
Decreased Turn Limit
Energy Transfer I
Quick Launch
Corrosive Torpedoes
6x Bombers

Poseidon BB = 235
Improved Shields
Decreased Turn Limit
Increased Wing Capacity
Energy Transfer II
Precision Strike
Corrosive Torpedoes
6x Bombers

Poseidon BB = 235
Improved Shields
Decreased Turn Limit
Increased Wing Capacity
Energy Transfer II
Precision Strike
Corrosive Torpedoes
6x Bombers

4x Storm CA = 260
Difficult Target
Energy Transfer I

4x Piranha FF = 100
Energy Transfer I

4x Piranha FF = 100
Energy Transfer I

This list is pretty similar to what I was rocking back in 1.5.  The Manta BCV and 2x Poseidons all reeling with 6x Bombers is something that looks really scary on paper.  Corrosive Torpedoes on everything so I can play a medium ranged game and deal damage from afar while extra Shields help for when I get close.  Once I weaken my enemy and open up a corridor of opportunity, I will charge in and let things rip with Energy Transfer.  With Beam Weapons all over the place, enemy units should be very wary when fighting the Aquan Fleet.  One of the biggest weaknesses to Aquans in general is their vulnerability to assaults.  Thankfully, most of their ships have relatively high PD and can now link their mine for deadlier payloads.

Friday, November 29, 2013

FA: Fleet manuals released!

Not sure if human or alien.

Spartan Games released their updated Fleet Manuals for 2.0 today and I'm loving every second of it.  As part of the release package, Alex and Chris from the SG forums have also created some user-made fleet material for us to use.  Thanks to them, we can pretty much see what all of the MARs and special rules do.

After seeing the fleets, I'm pretty determined to work on my Aquans and build up a Directorate force.  Although I'm not a huge fan of how the new Aquan ships look, I can at least use my old Poseidon BBs and them on the table with fresh, new upgrades.  As for the Directorate, I'm completely in love with the new ship models so picking some up will be no problem.

Let's just say it didn't take me long to whip out some lists with the new rules.

1200
Directorate

Persecution DN = 325
Improved Shields
Upgraded Engines I
Decreased Turn Limit
Biohazard Ammo
Special Forces

Eliminator BB = 220
Improved Shields
Upgraded Engines I
Decreased Turn Limit
Biohazard Ammo
Special Forces

Eliminator BB = 220
Improved Shields
Upgraded Engines I
Decreased Turn Limit
Biohazard Ammo
Special Forces

3x Abraxas CA = 195
Biohazard Ammo
Special Forces

4x Enforcer FF = 120
Biohazard Ammo

4x Enforcer FF = 120
Biohazard Ammo

1200
Aquan Prime

Manta BCV = 270
Improved Shields
Decreased Turn Limit
Energy Transfer I
Quick Launch
Corrosive Torpedoes
6x Bombers

Poseidon BB = 235
Improved Shields
Decreased Turn Limit
Increased Wing Capacity
Energy Transfer II
Precision Strike
Corrosive Torpedoes
6x Bombers

Poseidon BB = 235
Improved Shields
Decreased Turn Limit
Increased Wing Capacity
Energy Transfer II
Precision Strike
Corrosive Torpedoes
6x Bombers

4x Storm CA = 260
Difficult Target
Energy Transfer I

4x Piranha FF = 100
Energy Transfer I

4x Piranha FF = 100
Energy Transfer I

Thursday, November 28, 2013

FA 2.0 Fleet Construction

That looks like a blast to play!

With Firestorm Armada 2.0 coming up in the next couple of days, we're starting to find out a little how fleets are going to be constructed.  On the individual ship level, the larger ships in the form of Cruisers onward will have options to customize how you want them to play.  There will be hard points and upgrade options on these ships that you can take for a few extra points.

The example here is from Alexmann on the SG forums.

Furthermore, you're allowed to use any Cruiser model that they currently have in the game.  It doesn't matter if you're using a MKI CA, MKII from the last batch of releases or MKIII from the new patrol set, you can basically build your own cruiser with the points allowed.  This is Spartan Games' way to allow you to build your fleet how you see fit; using the models that you enjoy rather than buying the new stuff every time.  While some question whether this will be good for business, I think they're missing the fact that SG puts out some ridiculous looking sculpts.  I know for a fact that I'll be picking up some new Patrol Fleets even though I have the older ships.

Personally, I really like how this system is done.  I've always wanted to customize my ships and one of the biggest turnoffs with version 1.0 and 1.5 of the game was that I couldn't.  As a big supporter of BFG, the lack of special rules and customization really bothered me.  With this new system, admirals can pretend that the older ships have been retrofitted to new specifications, giving his older models purpose and functionality on the battlefield.  Not only does this focus more on gameplay, but allows the player to try out some of the new features without having to commit to new models.  Frankly, it just makes sense, especially when you consider the fact that most of the models you're playing with is a mere spec on the flight stand anyway.

While I haven't received my copy of the rulebook yet, I did have a chance to get a few blurbs from some of the beta testers on the forum.  One of the best things I've heard today was that MARs and other special rules will be true to the fantasy.  Expect to see Bio-hazard Ammo to be on Directorate vessels and Energy Transfer to be pretty much an Aquan thing.  Star Cards are also gone, replaced by the Tactical Cards that can be found in the patrol boxes.

According to reddwarf on SG:
"Star Cards are gone, replaced by Tac cards.   There is a limited selection of Tac cards available (by limited I mean fewer but generally stronger, as well as some that are faction/alliance/league specific as well as general usage cards) but you get to choose the ones you want at the start of the game and play them on the turn you wish, *if* your Admiral is on the board.  So I guess they represent "Admiral Upgrades" in a way, as well as "action" orders.  Tac Cards are a standard rule, so unless the tournament decides differently I would think they would be included.  Technically the rule is worded "You may choose up to X TAC cards" (X varies a little), so I suppose X can be zero if you choose/don't like cards.  But each player makes that decision on their own by default (certainly you could both agree to skip taking them)."

Once again, really exciting.  Anything that gives the game more flexibility while allow for deeper gameplay is good for the longevity of the game.  After all, you just can't have players lining up their ships and rolling assloads of dice without any thought.  Just a couple of days left until I get the book in my hands, but I'm sure players all over the place are brainstorming like crazy what their list will be.  Until I know for sure what will be a good point range to play competitively, I'll still aim for 1000 points as my comfortable flying zone.  Now all Spartan Games needs to do is release their PDF ship stats so I can see what I want to field!

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Revisiting Firestorm Armada

Check out this badass battleship!

In December, Spartan Games is going to release Firestorm Armada 2.0.

This is what has been advertised:
  • Distinct play styles across the core races
  • Greater tactical diversity, including new ‘Tactical Ability Cards’
  • Targeted Strikes to take out key systems on an enemy ship
  • Faster and deadlier rules for Carriers and their Short Range Spacecraft
  • New Fleet Building systems, presenting you with more options and tactics
  • Rules for dynamic moving Terrain
  • Smoother Boarding Assaults
  • Brand new Weapon Types to crush your enemies!
“It was very important to us to ensure that as we moved to version 2.0 of the rules we catered for the needs of our existing players. It was key to remain loyal to their gaming needs and the investment they had made in our models,” explains Chris Worth, lead designer of FA 2.0. “Gamers needed to feel like they were playing the same game, but at the same time we had to introduce all of the new concepts they wanted.”

Aquan Prime Patrol Box

Sorylian Collective Patrol Box

The Directorate Patrol Box


Well, what can I say:  The new ships look amazing and the proposed rules fixes are spot on.  This time around, I'm more excited about the Sorylian and Directorate ships than the Aquans.  I know a few guys in the club are looking at expanding their ships as well.  Hopefully the new rules fix everything that was lacking in the first ruleset.

You can read more about how I feel about the matter here.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

X-Wing: Making Interceptors work

Push that limit to the max.

Despite all the flak that Interceptors receive on the forums and from tourney players, I still think they're solid ships.  Overall, they might be a few points more expensive than I would like, but I think a properly built Interceptor can do wonders on the battlefield.  I've been playing with Interceptors in every Imperial list I've built so far and I don't think that's ever going to change.

One of the most important upgrades to have on Interceptors is Push the Limit.  Unlike other ships in the game that can work with virtually any upgrade, I think Interceptors need PTL to be truly competitive.  In case you guys didn't know, Push the Limit allows your ship to preform an extra action while taking a stress token.  While other ships look at the stress token with worry, Tie Interceptors rarely care.  With 7 green movements on the dial including the awesome straight 4 and godly 2-turn, the Interceptor can clear stress very easily.  I often use the straight 4 to clear stress and build space between my opponents' ships and mine, or maintain aggression with the hard 2.  Building space between you and your opponent is especially effective because this gives you time to turn, while hopefully putting you in range 3 of your opponent's guns (increasing your Agil to 4).  Best of all, you can push for a second time after you reset to focus and evade defensively, or boost out of range completely.

I would consider Push the Limit to be mandatory on Interceptors for a number of reasons.  Movement is arguably the most important part of the game and no one does it better than the Interceptor with PTL.  Being able to Boost and Barrel Roll with PTL is simply godly if you're facing targets that require firing arcs to shoot you.  You know what's better than rolling all evades when someone shoots at you?  Not rolling evades at all because they have no shot.  Being able to inflict damage while denying any kind of retalitory action is invaluable in a game where unit preservation is king.  For Interceptors, this can be done either by avoiding firing arcs or entering combat with focus and evade on the same ship.  Focus is by far the most flexible action in the game, capable of enhancing both offensive and defensive abilities.  Being able to take an Evade action on top of that is just icing on the cake.  In any given combat, having 3 dice on attack and 3 dice on defense with both focus and evade is extremely powerful.  Once you start combining the Interceptors' impressive movement dials with their numerous actions, the Interceptor starts to become a real threat.

Here are some of the lists I've built so far with Interceptors:
  • Soontir Fel, Carnor Jax, Turr Phennir
  • Soontir Fel, Turr Phennir, Saber Pilot, Howlrunner
  • Soontir Fel, 2x Royal Guard, Howlrunner
  • Soontir Fel, Howlrunner, Mauler Mithel, Dark Curse, Night Beast

In the above lists, you can see that I've tried quite a few Interceptor builds.  The elite Interceptor list with 3x pilots is arguably the most challenging to play because there's absolutely no room for errors.  Unfortunately, bad dice rolls can cause the demise of the ship despite all 3 of them carrying Stealth Device.  The next few lists has at least 3x Interceptors with PTL.  A Saber Squadron Pilot with PTL is 24 points and the Royal Guard Pilot is 25 for PS6.  While both options are really solid, I think the 1 point extra for PS6 will be the way of the future.  No matter what, both of these 3+1 lists feature Howlrunner because the re-roll gives me the ability to play a ranged game at 2-3.  Howlrunner really gives me a more effective shooting phase and so far, I've been having huge success with my Fel + 2x Saber builds.  As for Turr Phennir, make sure to take PTL on him as well.  After many games with Veteran Instincts, he definitely needs the added flexibility of push to stay around.  Lastly, I'm trying a 1+4 build where a small batch of elite support Ties to carry Fel to victory.  It's especially effective because the PS5+ ships and 5-speed option allows me to close quickly and deliver a pretty strong alpha strike.

Well, there you have it folks.  I'll be rolling out some more games with Interceptor builds over the next few weeks and I'll let you know how it goes.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

X-Wing: Results from Worlds and Interceptors

Shooting stuff in space.

Check out some of the winning lists from the X-Wing World Championships this year.  It's been pretty hectic for me all week so I apologize for the lack of posts.  BlizzCon was also this week and I swear, I'm getting too old to be working 64 hours in a single week.

Anyways, let's talk about X-Wing!  Take a look at some of the lists.

Paul Heaver (World Champion)
Biggs
Dagger Squadron + Advanced Sensors
Dagger Squadron + Advanced Sensors
Rookie Pilot

Dallas Parker (World Finalist)
Howlrunner + Stealth + Determination
Dark Curse
Academy Pilot
Academy Pilot
Academy Pilot
Academy Pilot
Academy Pilot

Jonathan Gomes (Top 4)
Luke Skywalker + Shield Upgrade + R2-D2 + Draw Their Fire
Rookie Pilot
Rookie Pilot
Rookie Pilot

David Bergstrom (Top 4)
Howlrunner + Stealth Device
Backstabber
Obsidian Squadron
Obsidian Squadron
Obsidian Squadron
Academy Pilot
Academy Pilot

Jim Blakley (Top 8)
Rookie Pilot
Rookie Pilot
Blue Squadron
Gold Squadron
Gold Squadron

Brandon Barthel (Top 8)
Wedge + Push the Limit + R2
Biggs
Rookie Pilot
Rookie Pilot

Neil Howard (Top 8)
Captain Jonus + Squad Leader + Seismic Charge
Scimitar Squadron + Cluster Missiles + Concussion Missiles
Scimitar Squadron + Advanced Proton Tropedoes + Proton Tropedoes
Academy Pilot
Academy Pilot

Sunday, November 3, 2013

X-Wing: List Building Analysis

Welcome to flight school.

Over the last couple of days, I've been doing some serious in-depth thinking of X-Wing list building.  Having played a ton of games with both Imperials and Rebels by now, I have a pretty good understanding of things work.  I've spent the better part of my research time focused on the competitive metagame and the types of lists being fielded by players all over.

Let me take you through some of the important facets when building an X-Wing list and how you can maximize your chances on the battlefield.  I will say one thing though:  No matter how much you min-max your list for damage and survivability, player skill, experience, and dice will always be stronger.  This is the one thing I really enjoy about X-Wing and why I think it's a solid game.

First, let's take a look at an Rebel list that I've been toying around lately:

That's no moon..

100 points

Red Squadron Pilot
 
Red Squadron Pilot
 
Dagger Squadron Pilot
Advanced Sensors
 
Dagger Squadron Pilot
Advanced Sensors

The first thing when I look at when I have this in front of me is the offensive and defensive stats.  If I'm looking at raw firepower, I'm looking at a list that can throw out 12 dice at ranges 2/3 and 16 at range 1.  Then I consider the abilities that these pilots offer, such as the ability to Focus and Target Lock onto enemy ships.  It goes without saying that when you look at firepower, you have to pay close attention to what Pilot Skill a ship has.  A higher pilot skill means they you'll be shooting first, and that's very important when it comes to deciding what kind of list you're building.  It might be a meta specific thing, but if you're looking to shoot before a swarm of Obsidian Pilot Ties (PS3), then PS4 Red Squadron Pilots would be something to look at.  If your meta is packing Academy Pilot Ties (PS1) without any means to buff them via Swarm Tactics, then you might want to consider a pair of Rookies or Blue Squadron instead and take R2 Astromechs for better maneuverability.  This is where the beauty of list building kicks in and things really start to get interesting.  I love it.

Aside from analyzing a list's firepower, one must pay close attention to what kind of ships he's fielding.  You have to realize as a player that with each ship lost, your firepower also decreases.  This can be huge when constructing an army worth something because you need a reliable way to do damage as the game goes on.  Putting all of your points into Super-Han might look like an awesome idea, but what if he goes down and you have nothing left that can do damage?  Every time you get one of your ships killed, you lose firepower on the battlefield.  For every bit of firepower that drops, so does your chances of winning.  After all, your ability to damage enemy ships on the battlefield is what's eventually going to win you the game.

When choosing your ships, you also have to look at their defensive stats.  In a list with 2x X-Wings and 2x B-Wings, you're looking at 26 total hull points from Hull and Shields combined.  This is absolutely huge compared to some of things you can take at 100 points.  Shields are gigantic in a game where the luck factor can see a crit rendering your engines, pilot or abilities inert.  With each B-Wing packing 5 shields before the 3 Hull, and X-Wings giving you 2 before the same, you feel good about the amount of durability on your side of the field.  Another thing to consider here is your ship dials and what kind of maneuvers your ships can pull off.  After all, you need to be able to fire on your enemy to do damage, so setting up the right angles is very important for fielding a list like this.  Sure, you have a godly number of total hull points, but you can't defend very well because of your relatively low agility and lack of evade tokens.  That's OK, we got a few tricks here with Advanced Sensors so we can pull off some wacky plays and maintain fire superiority.

Now, let's look at an Imperial list I've had success with lately:

It's a space station!

100 points

Soontir Fel
Push the Limit
Stealth Device
 
Saber Squadron Pilot
Push the Limit
 
Saber Squadron Pilot
Push the Limit
 
"Howlrunner"
Determination

On first glance, you'll notice that I have less overall firepower than my Rebel list in terms of sheer dice.  You're looking at 11 dice at 2/3 and 15 at range 1.  However, you have to factor into a few other things like PS and Howlrunner's ability to let me re-roll 1 attack dice per attack.  With both Fel and Howl shooting things before they have a chance to shoot back, and I'm getting re-rolls in combination with Focus, the damage potential for this list is pretty respectable.

Where the damage potential might be higher depending on the situation, the defensive side is very different.  When you compare this list with the 26 HP rebel list above, you can see a huge disparity of raw bulkiness.  The Imperial list featured here only has 12 total hull points, less than half of what the Rebel list can field and with the presence of NO shields at all.  No shields means you're susceptible to getting hit by crits that can do a number of bad things to your ships.  This includes but is not limited to receiving a Direct Hit! and dying instantly after you've already suffered a hit.

Don't panic though, Imperial pilots makes up for this in a number of ways.  The first is better movement dials to deal with faster speed, sharper turns, deeper K-Turns, and numerous green maneuvers to clear stress.  Second comes in the way of Barrel Roll, Boost, and Evade tokens.  As if this isn't enough, Push the Limit allows the Interceptors to enter combat with both offensive and defensive typing (Focus and Evade), as well as allowing the player to Boost and Barrel Roll back to back.  Setting up smart firing lanes is one thing, but not getting hit entirely while still being able to train enemy ships is something else.  With a natural 3 agility dice to throw when defending and being able to move like a UFO, this list represents the pinnacle in avoidance shooting.  Due to the complexity of movement and need to move as a squadron, rookie pilots tend to shy away from these kind of lists.  Quite fitting if you know anything about the elite 181st Imperial Fighter Wing.

Well, there you have it.  List building is very fun and intuitive in this game since every option feels viable to some degree.  All you have to know is find out what kind of ships molds your to particular playstyle and build a list around it.  It won't be easy with so many options, but hopefully this article will broaden your horizons.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

X-Wing: Easy flying

Let's Push the Limit!

Over the course of the last two weeks, I've flown a crap ton of games in X-Wing.  I started off getting the feel of the game with Tie Interceptors and found out just how vulnerable they are to turret ships.  As the games went on, I started flying Rebel ships and tried out a whole number of viable builds for them too.

Here's what I've tried so far:

Imperials:
Howl + Swarm, Mauler + Vet, Dark Curse, Backstabber, 2x BSP + DTF
A strong list with lots of moving parts.  There's a reason why this list is so strong and its because it has a lot of bodies, ways to disperse damage, and a lot of attack dice that re-rolls.  I'd say this is a pretty medium difficulty list to fly and you have to know how to fly in formation.

Fel + PTL + Stealth, Turr + Vet + Stealth, Vader + Conc Missiles + Engine
With a little more than 9 HP total in your entire force, losing one ship means you're cutting down the firing power of your squad immensely.  You're essentially flying around with paper airplanes armed with daggers, so there's no room for error here.  Runs into a pretty hard counter if someone brings plentiful shields and turrets.

Fel, 2x Saber, Howl, all PTL
A little beefier than the above list above, but not as elite.  Still pretty strong because you get the firepower from three Interecptors, and you can play off the benefits of Push the Limit and Interceptor movement.  Howl is actually the most expendable because most of the damage is coming from your elite Sabers.

Fel + PTL + Stealth, Howl, Mauler + Vet, Backstabber, Winged Gundark
The same thing here really.  You're looking for Fel to lead in a group of Ties that will do good damage if played correctly.  It's basically a mini-Tie Swarm list but you're fielding Fel for an extra flanker and damage dealer.

Kath + PTL + Gunner + Engine, 2x Sabers + PTL
Here's a list with the Slave-1 rocking PTL + Engines to close and do damage with Focus and Gunner.  Sabers with PTL for additional firepower.  Gives me a little beef over the standard Imperial chicken.

Rebels:
Wedge + R2 + PTL + Engine, Luke + DTF + R2D2, Biggs + Shield
The supreme team, three amigos, holy trinity or whatever else corny name for a team goes here.  Biggs soaks up the shots and adds his firepower when he can, Luke DTFs any crits off of Biggs and then heals it up with R2D2, and Wedge just does what he does best:  Kill everyone.  This is probably the hardest list to fly here because of all the synergetic components that actually requires you to be in range.

Wedge + R2 + PTL, Biggs, 2x Rookies
A pretty straight forward list with 4x Xs here.  Wedge brings the pain, Biggs dies honorably while soaking up damage for your 2x Rookies to do damage.  Very straight forward, just push models forward and shoot.

Wedge, 2x B-Wing + Sensors, Rookie
B-Wings are essentially better X-Wings with their Advanced Sensors.  I don't know about you guys, but I've seen these things do pretty ridiculous things, including Focus K-Turns or barrel roll craziness.  Why do they have 5 shields and 3 damage dice again?  Who knows, add Wedge and a Rookie for good taste.

Han + Marks + Gunner + Chewie, 2x Rookies
Super Han goes in there and does good damage while people freak out and ignore the 2x Rookies.  Big mistake here because the Rookies actually do good damage.

Han + Marks, Chewie + DTF + Gunner + Recon
I need a shower after playing this list.  I've only played it once and my opponent had some 2x Interceptor build with some Ties.  It was just bad times with him because of all the traffic jamming and me congo-lining through his army until there was nothing left.

Overview:
From what I've noticed in all of my games, I always feel that I have a much harder game with Imperials.  Even when piloting something like the Tie Swarm (which a lot of players see as played out and overly strong to begin with), I still have to be mindful of my movement at all times.  With the Elite Interceptor builds totaling 9 HP total, there's absolutely no room for error.  Even with you're playing your movements well, bad dice and poor evade rolls can still mean the end for your ships.

Slow and steady wins the race.

When I compare this with the Rebel ships, I feel like most of the time I can joust for days and just K-Turn as many times as I want.  Poor firing arcs are negated by having shields, the same with crit damage for the most part.  When one of my Interceptors get hit by a crit, they always get smacked with something like damage sensor array, damaged engine, or worst of all, direct hit.  The fact that B-Wings are packing 5 shields and put out as much damage as a an X-Wing is pretty ridiculous.  Target Locks are one of the best actions in the game to take when someone is out of your firing arc, giving you a drastic damage boost if one simple prediction goes wrong.  Lastly, the slower flying speed of the Rebel ships allow you to take advantage of your shooting phase a lot more.  Between the plentiful Target Locks, turrets and shields, combat seems to be a lot more intuitive than Imperial ships.

This is just my observation from two solid weeks of hardcore gaming.  I love the game to death and I feel there's still tons more to explore, but I can't help but think that Rebels are just easier to fly.  Good thing I chose Imperials.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

X-Wing: Some more observations

Let's do this.

After a good amount of X-Wing games under my belt, I'm feeling pretty good about my game overall.  Having piloted both Imperial and Rebel ships, I still think Imperial is my favorite.  Don't get me wrong, I love how some Rebel ships play off each other and start the synergy train.  One of my favorite lists to pilot is the Holy Trinity or Three Amigos; Wedge, Luke and Biggs.  That list just has a lot of flavor on top of the fun, which is always nice when throwing down on some games.

Tonight, I played 2 games vs. some friends of mine, and I really think my Soontir Fel is cursed.  He has a nasty habit of just dying from pretty unseen circumstances and it's probably my fault in the first place.  The best thing to do with Interceptors is to do your damage and get out, but no, after some miscalculation on my part, Fel makes a hard right turn into a clusterfuck of guys and loses out on his action.  I'll tell you one thing:  This is what gets Fel killed the most.  Any Interceptor without action is as good as dead.  Unless you roll like a god (which I did NOT), the chances of you getting focused down is pretty high.  Anyways, in the first game ;Fel takes 2 damage from Concussion Missiles and then manages to clip a asteroid and explode.  In the second game, my opponent rolls 3 hits from long range, I roll 5 evade from range 3 + Stealth Device and roll straight blanks.  I don't know what kind of nonsense is that, but the last two games have been pretty bad for Fel.

Despite the bad rolls, I still think Fel is my favorite pilot in the game.  His ability to remain combat effective after boosting and barrel rolling due to Push the Limit is amazing.  I just love how much flexibility he has with the ability to stay super defensive with Evade + 2x Focus, or maneuver into a position where he can deal damage without return fire.  For this reason, I kept him and changed the rest of my list.

Here's what I'm currently packing for Imperials:

A lot of elite pilots up in hurr.

100 points

Soontir Fel + PTL + Stealth Device
Howlrunner
Mauler Mithel + Veteran Instincts
Backstabber
Winged Gundark

I'm really liking this mini-Howl list with 4 named Ties led by Soontir Fel.  If I need all the damage that I can get, I fly the ships as close together as possible so everyone gets the benefit from Howlrunner.  Otherwise, Fel goes on a flanking mission and attacks whatever he can get once he hard turns in.  With his superior agility and PTL for extra focus, he can change direction and charge into the fray ASAP.

In the first game I played tonight, my friend Chad was caught off-guard with the damage potential coming in from these elite pilots.  Being a 100 point list, he had the Initiative and this game me a better chance at out-maneuvering him.  Since I had higher Pilot Skill on most of my guys, I was able to secure some fast kills, downing both an A-Wing and B-Wing in good time while tragically losing one of my ships due to all blank evades.  I swear something is wrong with my greens!  In the second game I played vs. Norm, in the opening volley from his Luke and Wedge, 6 hits translated into 5 blanks on evade for me, losing both Gundark and Backstabber in before they even got to fire.  I think it's time I look into new dice... or something.

Anyway, the list is pretty simple.  Fly tight and focus big ships like the Falcon with everyone, or pounce forward with the group of 4 ties flying in good formation while flanking with Fel.  This gives me a total of 15 hull points to play with instead of 9, 11 attack dice with Howlrunner re-roll at ranges 2-3, and 16 at range 1, with two pilots shooting at PS9.  At least I know with this, I have a much better chance at killing Falcon lists because of the increased firepower.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

X-Wing: Let's try another list

In Vader we trust.

Alright, this is proving a little more difficult than I thought.  There are quite a few options when dropping Carnor Jax from the list because I don't think he's worth it.  Having 3 more hull points and another ship to damage is a very good thing.  The key to making a successful list at this point is to make feint importance and make it so every model on the table is a threat somehow.  Whether this is Soontit Fel by himself, or his wingman Turr Phennir flying hard flank, or the two named Ties coming straight in, it's all good.

Here's what the list currently looks like:

100 points

Soontir Fel
Push the Limit
Stealth Device
Targeting Computer
Royal Guard TIE
 
Turr Phennir
Veteran Instincts
Stealth Device
Targeting Computer
Royal Guard TIE
 
"Mauler Mithel"
Veteran Instincts
 
"Backstabber"

The Elite 4.

With this list, I'm going for more hull points and more potential damage in the ways of Mauler Mithel and Backstabber.  This puts the list's pilot skills up to 9/9/9/6 and increases the total hull points to 12 from 9.  I'm planning to take Soonit Fel and Turr Phennir in every single Imperial list I make from here on, but everything else is adjustable.  I know, this doesn't really leave many options, but I really like the fluff and look of the 181st Saber Squadron.  Nevermind, I take that back:  I bought a Slave 1 last night so I'll be making some lists with that in the near future.

Here's the tricky part with the above list:  I can drop Targeting Computer from Turr and get Howlrunner to run with my list.  Likewise, I can drop Mauler Mithel completely and replace it with Howlrunner.  The problem with running Howl in my list is that she really works better with more ships.  What really sucks is that if I take Howlrunner in my lists, I'm begging myself to fly in formation just so I can utilize her special ability to shoot better.  With Tie Interceptors, this doesn't work well because standard Tie Fighters can't really keep pace with them.  With Targeting Computer as an option, they also don't benefit too much from Howl's re-roll.  With that said, Howl's also a giant target on the battlefield.  I feel that if I want to take her, I'll want to take her with protection and thus, increase her points cost.  That's something I want to avoid as I'd rather have regular Tie Fighters that can do good damage by themselves.

It's all good, the above is the list I'm going to run for a few games and see what happens.

X-Wing: Elite Aces Post-game

Looks about right.

I played a game today against a pretty tanky list with my Imperial Aces list.  For those of you who haven't seen it before, the list looks like this:

The Aces of the Empire.

100 points

Soontir Fel
Push the Limit
Stealth Device
Targeting Computer
Royal Guard TIE
 
Carnor Jax
Push the Limit
Stealth Device
Targeting Computer
Royal Guard TIE
 
Turr Phennir
Veteran Instincts
Stealth Device
Targeting Computer
Royal Guard TIE

The list I faced off against tonight was pretty scary: 2x Y-Wings with Ion Cannon Turret, a B-Wing with Ion Cannon and the Rebel ace, Wedge Antilles.  Looking across the table, I immediately knew it was going to suck because of the 360 turrets, the Ion Cannons and the 29 vs. 9 hull points disparity.  I immediately regretted bring the list I did, but I was determined to make it work.

When the game started off, things went in my direction in a hurry.  I 5-advanced up into his Y-Wings because Wedge was taking it really slow and steady in the far left flank.  My opponent, James, played Wedge smart and kept him in the back and waited for my Interceptors to engage.  Because Wedge was so far away, I simply B-lined into his advancing Y-Wings and B-Wing and opened fire with crazy amounts of dice.  Dice were hot for me on the attack and I immediately stripped all the shields on his B-Wing and severely crippled one of his Y-Wings.

Here's when I noticed a problem with this list.  The combination of 360 degree Target Lock, 360 degree Ion Turrets, and asteroids being on the board, made defense miserable.  Despite having my Stealth Device, Wedge was able to sneak in a few shots to disable Stealth on two of my ships as the game dragged.  The 360 TL + Ion Cannons managed to score hits on both Turr and Fel on very important turns.  Although I rolled hot on the attack in the beginning, the brunt of the damage was soaked up by the tanky Rebel ships.  My attempts to kill Wedge was poor because of all the disables coming from the Ion Cannons, and eventually the health disparity was too great for me.  Although I managed to down a Y-Wing and B-Wing, and put Wedge at 1 HP, James came back swinging with hot dice towards the end to seal the deal.

Some things I learned:
  • I would like to say I should have ignored the Y-Wings and B-Wing and just went straight for Wedge in the beginning, even if it meant having one round of combat of being shot at.  This doesn't sound appetizing to me at all though.
  • 360 Target Lock + Ion Cannons on tanky ships makes my life a living hell on Interceptors.  My ships rely on their maneuverability and ability to get out of firing arcs but against this 360 combo, he simply doesn't care.
  • Carnor Jax added nothing to my list except for his shooting prowess.  The Target Locks completely ignored Jax's ability and made him a points sink.
  • Getting hit by the Ion Cannon sucks when you're flying an Interceptor.  Just one hit and you're flying straight white 1, completely negating the primary strength of the Interceptor which is unparrelled agility.  Soontir Fel died to Wedge when he was unable to shake off the stress token generated from the previous round because he took an Ion Cannon shot to the face.  That was game changing and caused the death of my beloved team leader.
  • I'm determined to make Interceptors work, but maybe not in a list with 3.  The reason why is because in their current state, I see a huge weakness towards double Millennium Falcons and lists like this in general.  How do you mitigate a damage difference of 20 when 360 TL + turrets negate the one thing that Interceptors have going for them?  I think overall, I will be playing with more ships.

A lot to think about.  New list in the works, I'll post it tomorrow.

Monday, October 21, 2013

X-Wing: The Holy Trinity

I didn't know Steve Perry flew for the Rebels?

X-Wing pretty much exploded in my club with almost everyone showing great interest.  I was going to sell the Rebel stuff that I got in my starter boxes, but after this amount of hype, I think I'll keep the stuff for demo purposes and lending stuff out.  Besides, I've got a Rebel list in mind that I plan on running.  You guys have already seen what kind of Imperial stuff I've been fielding, I think it's time to show you what I got for the good guys.

As you've probably guessed by now, it's going to be a pretty solid list based on Wedge, Biggs and Luke.  Sure, it's quite thematic, but at the same list the list can be brutal to play against in the hands of a skilled player.


100 points

Wedge Antilles
R2 Astromech
Push the Limit
Shield Upgrade

Luke Skywalker
R2-D2
Draw Their Fire
Shield Upgrade

Biggs Darklighter
R5 Astromech

The premise here is very simple:  The three amigos fly in a relatively tight formation and engage targets as one.  Biggs hangs out slightly in the back but within RB1 and takes most of the fire.  Hopefully, he will always be within RB2-3 of the enemy and will fly close enough to hamper their movement while maintain close formation with Wedge.  If he gets killed, well, that's what he's there to do.  If he takes crits, Luke eats it for him because he has Draw Their Fire.  I bought both Wedge and Luke the Shield Upgrades, they will last longer than Biggs on the battlefield.  Why did I decide to put R2D2 and Shield upgrade on Luke instead of Biggs?  Well, Luke is a higher skilled pilot and costs more.  When you take into account that Luke is much more likely to stay alive on the field and rack up the remaining kills, Biggs is a worth sacrifice.

Wedge is the primary damage dealer here and I gave him a very offensive loadout.  You can bet your ass that people will be gunning for Wedge when he starts firing because PTL + Target Lock with -1 Agility freaking hurts.  With the R2 unit, he'll be able to shake off stress while keeping his guns locked on targets of opportunity.  The key to this list is to fly close and as tight as you can formation wise while keeping your targets clear.  You need to make room to make the best out of your shots, but you also need to stay within proximity so you can play off all the synergy.  This actually makes this list incredibly hard to pilot, but very durable and deadly when played well.  Even though I don't mind losing Biggs, he's still an X-Wing after all and the damage that he puts out is respectable.  Once again, the reason why I didn't put anything on him is because he essentially adds 5+ free hull points to Wedge and Luke, and they're going to be the ones making the shots that matter.  Between the three of them, you're looking at 17 total hull points that are recoverable thanks to R2D2.

Slow and steady wins the race.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

X-Wing Review

Hold on tight, prepare to read.

There are 5 things that makes X-Wing one of the best miniatures games I've ever played.

Simple and Clean

X-Wing has one of the smoothest rulesets I've ever played in a minis game.  There's only a few phases in the game and generic special rules that you have to follow and that's pretty much it.  Movement is completely dictated by visual aids and helped along with pre-determined measurement sticks.  Everything that you want to do is printed out, provided and helped along on the tabletop so you clearly see what's going on at all times.  I find this to be the future of miniatures gaming in general.  Warmachine has battle tokens to symbolize exactly how many Focus a Warcaster has, and if he casts something, you place the corresponding spell token down on the table.  Warhammer recently came out with magic spell cards that you can put near a unit being afflicted by a spell.  Anything that helps the player visually is extremely important in speeding up gameplay as well as keeping the game itself organized.  X-Wing takes it one step further in that you don't need a ruler to play the game.  You simply pull out a flight stick and move the distance in your speed dial, or measure with a range stick how many dice you can throw in attack.  It's simple, clean and effective.

The game itself is easy to setup and plays fast.  You can play most games no matter how grueling in under an hour.  Part of this is because there's no ruler to calculate every single inch or half inch, and everything is in front of your face so it's impossible to forget.  This is extremely attractive for the modern gamer because you can build a list, put your models on the table and get to playing right away.  It plays smoother, faster, and you can fit more games in the same time you would another minis game.  To make things even easier, you don't even need to paint the minis because they come pre-painted.  I checked out some of the minis in person recently and they're pretty damn good for the price you pay for it.  You can always re-paint them if you don't like how they look after all.  X-Wing, in this regard, is more than just a miniatures game, it's the Steam-equivalent of what miniatures game should be in the modern era.  I don't need to construct or paint anything, I can simply open up the box of minis and put them straight onto the table.

Personality and Depth

When I say the game is simple to play, I don't mean it's shallow.  One of the biggest concerns that I have with any game going in is the skill cap.  If I'm going to be invest time, effort, and most importantly, money into a hobby, I want it to be worth my time.  As a hardcore gamer, the hobby side of things is already taken care of so I'm thankful the minis I put on the table won't look like ass.  With that out of the way, I can focus on the core gameplay mechanics and rip it apart from top to bottom.  Out of the five games I've played so far, there is a huge amount of depth lying underneath the easy to learn ruleset.  This, my friends, is how you know you got a winner.

One of my favorite games ever created is Pokemon.  On the surface level, it's easy enough that even a child can understand it:  Fire burns grass and water puts out fire.  A lot of people stop right here and that's perfectly fine.  If they want a game that they can go around and collect Pokemon with their friends, good for them.  However, if they really want to dig into the game and find out the inner workings of it, they'll find something so alien and unfathomable that it'll be like playing something completely different.  Now enter the world of competitive battling:  Tiers, EVs, IVs, natures, breeding, and specific movesets that shapes and molds an entirely different metagame.  To me, this is where the game really begins.

X-Wing is no different in that regard.  Despite having a remarkably simple ruleset, there's a near infinite level of possibility and customization.  We all know there's several different kinds of ships that's used to shoot down other ships.  What we need to realize is that there's several ranks to these spacecraft with different pilot skills, different ships have different maneuverability, unique pilots have their own special rules, modifications, weapon upgrades, elite pilot skills, the list goes on.  All of these elements come with built-in or added points costs, so list design is very thought-provoking and fun.  In a standard tournament point range of 100 points, you can do virtually anything you want with the options presented to you.  This is where the game truly becomes challenging as you're customizing your playing experience based on your personal preferences.  No other minis game in the last decade presents itself this way in my honest opinion.  This game truly exemplifies the meaning of "easy to learn, hard to master."

Action and Reaction

I'm not going to lie when I say this, but I'm pretty done with the my-turn-your-turn ideology of gameplay.  It's an awful system to begin with and one of the reasons why games like that don't sing to me the way they used to.  As an competitive RTS player at heart, I enjoy live action where you can make important decisions in real time.  Since you can't really do it in a miniatures game, you have an action/reaction system instead.  When your opponent does something to you, I want to be able to answer back instead of just pulling models off the table.  This is just a method of gaming that I like and I understand that it is not the same for everybody.  Infinity has a similar system via AROs and honestly, that's the only thing I like about that game.  In short, there's nothing more insulting than watching your opponent total you without being able to do anything in response.  That's one of the reasons why I've shied away from Warmachine and one of the reasons why I think Seize the Initiative is the worst thing to happen to 40K.  Sure, you can do the same thing to your opponent, but that's no way to enjoy a game.

One of the best gameplay features from X-Wing is how it incorporates Pilot Skill into how players act and react in a game.  When the round starts, pilots with the lowest skill moves first, followed by the pilots with higher skill.  Whether or not this shows the rookie's inexperience and eagerness for battle is up to your imagination.  The fact is, this happens to the entire board and both players activate their pilots in corresponding order.  Because the action phase happens immediately after a single pilot makes his move, the higher skilled pilots can react to how aggressive the lesser skilled pilots are and adjust their actions accordingly.  If a lower pilot overextends, a higher skilled pilot might want to kill him right away.  Should the pilot who moved first anticipate this, he might want to Evade during his action phase.  When it comes down to the combat phase, the pilots with the highest pilot skill shoots first before going down the skill tree.  This not only portrays the experience of the pilot, but it helps maintain the fluidity of active gameplay.  Regardless of how you look at it, both players are constantly moving their ships around during the movement phase.  This makes the game much more enjoyable for both players because they're both actively playing the game.

Prediction and Bluffing

Going back to Pokemon, one of the most difficult things to master in that game is prediction.  Prediction is a skill that only experience or instinct can leverage and once mastered, will give you an edge over your opponent.  If I predict my opponent will switch out his Pokemon right now, I'll be able to setup this ability that'll allow me to sweep his team.  Does he go for it?  Only experience will tell him what to expect, and sometimes he will guess wrong and it'll mean his downfall.  This is a chance that every competitive player has to take, but he'll be able to make more educated guesses the more he plays the game.  At the end of the day, prediction adds another layer of strategy where lesser game systems don't provide it at all.

Now enter X-Wing, where the entirety of the Planning Phase is based on prediction, anticipation, and guesstimation.  Every single move you make on the battlefield before your pilots even start turning is made with a movement dial placed face down.  Each type of ship has its own movement dial and thus, every ship's ability to maneuver is different.  An X-Wing will not be able to pull off the same maneuvers as an Tie Fighter and that's something both players will have to learn.  The best example I can give here is that: You have two Tie Fighters closing in on your tail and you're down to your last hull point.  Your ship is already turning soft left, so do you want to hard bank right to try to throw them off?  Maybe if you fly straight ahead you can gain some distance between them.  What if you preform a Koiogran Turn right now and go out guns blazing?  Now imagine the same situation with different pilot skills on the table where movement actually happens in ascending order.

The morale of the story is:  The X-Wing decided to bank hard right and the Imperial player predicted he would.  Not only did they go in the right direction, but they closed the distance and ended up with +1 attack dice for being in range 1.  Hmm.. gg wp.

Fun and Immersive

Probably the biggest draw that any game has going for it is simply; how fun it is to play.  This is incredibly subjective and normally compounded over several different things.  For me, I think the game is awesome.  The ruleset is easy to learn, but the game itself is hard to master.  Prediction is one of the key driving forces to how movement is dictated and it can either be a boon or fatal flaw.  I love skirmish style games and having the ability to play multiple games in the span of a single WHFB game is very appealing.  The buy in cost is also fantastic, although I do hope that FFG put out more stock (stuff literally flies off the shelves, I wonder why).  This is the only game I've played in a while that I can literally go from box to table in a span of a few minutes.  I love the fact I can play with regular pilots as well as the more famous pilots that we see in the movies e.g. Vader and Luke.  I love the customization options and the ability to customize my ships with the pilots that I like, and have them behave exactly how I want.  Most of all, I love the alternating gameplay where both players are immersed in the fantasy that is flying around the galaxy with starfighers.  As a hardcore gamer, this is the perfect game for me.

My friend and I talked about how this game translates the fantasy onto the tabletop, and I think it's near flawless.  A lot of the unique pilots have skills that fits them very well in their each unique way.  This gives them personality, character and the desire for players to make them want to succeed on the table.  I just love how Imperial pilots are more about the individual skill of the pilot themselves and how synergistic the Rebel pilots are with each other.  Sure, a Tie Swarm will look pretty epic, but so is Biggs' heroic sacrifice so Wedge ends up killing everyone.

The best way to describe it is:  If you took a photostory of a game of X-Wing being played and played it back without hands, rulers or dice, it would look like a scene from Star Wars.  In that respect, I think this game nailed it.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Got some games in of X-Wing

This game is godly.

Today, I went up to Dice House to play some X-Wing games with my friend Norm.  Having only played 3 games of X-Wing before today, I honestly didn't know what to expect.  The first few games I played was pretty standard for newer players.  You know, just beginner games with the starter kit where you're flying around aimlessly trying to figure out the rules and wishing we had more models to play with.  Today was my first real flight piloting the Tie Interceptor and the additional mechanics that came with the game.

I won't type out the battle reports entirely because frankly, I was having too much fun to remember all the finer details.  What I will do is highlight some of the stuff I learned from the games I played today so hopefully, you guys will get pumped and give the game a try.  I shit you not:  This the best minis game I have played in a very long time, and I don't say that ever.  In fact, I don't even like Star Wars, I'm only playing this game because of incredible solid game mechanics.

  • In the first game that I played, I took a list featuring Soontir Fel, Turr Phennir, Mauler Mithel and Dark Curse.  I would of picked Backstabber instead, but I didn't have the Tie Exp pack and I didn't mind playing with Dark Curse.  After all, she's pretty impossible to hit due to her special rule as long as you play in the proper range bands.
  • Speaking of range bands, maneuverability and positioning is everything in this game.  I guess this is just something that comes instinctively having played Dark Eldar for over a decade.  This game, to keep things simple, is all about doing damage while not taking damage in return.  That's all it is at the end of the day.  You have to make use of every one of your ships' movement capabilities as well as their special rules so you can find the most opportune combat scenarios.
  • I'll give you guys an example of a combat scenario that came up today:  My opponent was hot on my tail with two X-Wings and I needed to do something next round or die.  Out of all the manuevers I could of done, I predicted my opponent would declare a turn to catch my already wounded Tie Fighter.  Instead of playing the turning war, I flew straight ahead as fast as I could to reach the safety of range band 3.  Being further away gave me an extra defense die to roll against my opponent's 3 attacks.  I ended up not needing it because I simply flew straight while my opponent's planes banked left, and I barrel rolled out of their firing arc.  That's something I'll talk about later.
  • The point I was trying to make was that sometimes, it's better to just run away and into the safety of space.  This is especially handy if you have something like Stealth Device, which already gives you +1 defense die to roll but shorts out the second you take damage.  Whenever you're able to roll more dice, you should take it unless you know you will take a crap ton of damage in return.  Looking at all my combat scenarios today, I had to play to the strengths and weaknesses of my ships.  In the first list I ran, I had a total of 12 hull points to play with.  My opponent, who ran a list with Wedge, Biggs and Dutch, had 18 total hull points (including Shield) before modifications.  You should know that you shouldn't try trading hits at this point and you should be relying of damage mitigation over attrition.
One of the lists I used today.
  • Tie Fighters and Tie Interceptors are extremely maneuverable:  There were so many times today that I was able to maneuver my planes in a way that I can get shots on him without any retaliatory attack.  Whether this meant Boosting with my Interceptors out of their firing arc, or Barrel Rolling my way on their flank, it was just a joy to play.  One of the biggest boons for Tie Interceptors is their ability to fly green on a hard 2.  This allowed me to shake stress while maintaining a strong pursuit on my target X-Wing.  Boost, is also huge for me:  Being able to add that extra range allows me to not only dodge shots coming back, but gives me another die to roll for attack if I go from RB2 to 1.  Boosting and rolling in the correct situations also allowed me to change my opponent's shots from range 1 to 2, or 3 to no shot at all.  It's just amazing.
  • Prediction and being able to read your opponent's movement is a strong skill.  There were a few times today where was able to lead some shots and keep up my pursue by imagining where my opponents' ship will go.  There was another time where my opponent did something I completely didn't expect (I was expecting a K-Turn) and got the better of me on the maneuver.  Thankfully, I pre-selected a safer maneuver to execute on my turn so I was able to stay on target.  There's only one other game I know that has strategy attached to prediction, and that's Pokemon:  One of the best designed games of all time, something that this game shows a lot of.  More on that later.
  • Like I said, I played two games today.  Both of them against the same list with Wedge, Biggs and Dutch.  I'm not quite sure what their upgrades were, but I think Wedge had Marksmanship, Biggs had the R2 unit that gave him an extra point in defense after his action, and Dutch had a turret Ion Cannon.  The main experience that I have to share for Imperial players is:  Kill Wedge because he's the primary damage dealer of the lot.  Biggs can take a lot of damage for Wedge, but not if you can ignore Biggs entirely.  I'm talking about getting out of firing arcs, intentionally touching Biggs, or anything that makes it so Biggs is not a valid target.  No matter what, Wedge has to die.  With PS9, Target Lock and the ability to subtract one of your defense die when making attacks, the guy puts out ridiculous amounts of damage.  Thankfully, Wedge went down pretty hard in both games, taking the crit that makes him PS0 in the initial firefights.
  • Thank you Norm for being such a cool dude.  I learned a lot from today's games and I look forward to flying with or against you in the future!  Also, thank you for teaching me first hand why it sucks getting hit by the Ion Cannon.  Having to fly straight 1 for the turn sucks so hard on a squint.

What more can I say?  This game is amazing.  It has something which I find absolutely vital in all good games: Easy to learn, hard to master.  The more I play it, the more I discover the hidden mechanics that make all good games great.  It has near limitless complexity underneath the disguise of a simple game.  At first, you're flying around with X-Wings and Tie Fighters, but once you tack on more ships, unique pilots, Elite Skills and Modifications, the entire game changes.

Like I said previously, this game reminded me a lot about Pokemon, one of the games that I hold in the highest realm of game design.  To me, that game is near flawless:  It's simple enough that a child can understand the simple, all-too-familiar concepts of water beating fire, but so complex that on a competitive level, correct stats, EVs and specific movesets mean almost everything.  Not to mention Pokemon and X-Wing both have prediction mechanics, a unique and challenging aspect of gameplay that only the most advanced players can truly appreciate.