SO my first blogpost! I’m writing this after having participated in a Q3 competition at Warboar Games in Bromley, southwest London..ish. Having been toying around with an interesting combination of Colonel Vessery (Tie Defender) with x7 title and intensity over the last month, the focus has been on tweeking his wingmates. Today I went with
Colonel Vessery (TIE Defender):|Tie x7 title|Intensity|
“Quickdraw” (TIE S/F): |Trickshot|Fire Control System|Lightweight Frame|Pattern Analyser|Spec Ops title|
“Double Edge” (TIE Aggressor): |Predator|Twin Laser Turret|Lightweight Frame|
How did I do? I do good. Despite a rocky 4 games earlier in the week with this list I stuck to what I know and what I enjoy flying at the moment and these 3 troublemakers got me 2 wins & 2 losses (mov 352, sos 0.500, for the record) and a satisfying 14th out of 19. I would like to thank my opponents Paul, Rob, Ashley and Thomas for some great games and a couple moments I’d like to discuss.
Moments I’d like to discuss..
A win and a loss took me into game 3 of 4 and after having been refueled by the lazy-lunch enablers at Tesco I set up against Ashley who was running a menacing little number including his own outfitted Colonel Vessery but with TIE D tractor beam alongside Countess Ryad with TIE D ion cannon and the Imperial 26-point crowd-pleaser himself Omega Leader jukecommrelay yada-yada.
After my ship placement bottom right I see my opponent top left of the table and a lovely alley of asteroids leading diagonally. Here, if I was Ashley I would hope that I would take a lovely left bank maneuver and joust his double D and OL squadron. I recalled a game at my LGS earlier in the week where my experienced opponent helpfully suggested If you dont like the look of your initial engagement turn around, reassess and reapproach. Cheers to Charles for that. As my opponent banked into the astroid lane I took a left turn with both QD and Vess followed by a K-turn/ S-loop according, positioning myself here:
My Vess bottom right of the image. QD green “2” straights and barrel rolls left for a great approach next round. Annd yes, Double Edge took a smashing from Ryad and OL. And no. My green dice were nice to me so thankfully he wasn’t tractor beamed off the table..
This positioning made me happy. I managed a take shields and more off of his Vessery with QD and the TLT and then the following round removed Vess from the board (there isn’t room for two!) This game finished 100-0.
Another Tale of Two Vesserys
My last game was against Thomas and an intriguing list consisting of VESSERY TIE D TRACTOR BEAM RUTHLESSNESS WAT? Having not seen Ruthlessness before and seeing it lined up alongside QD Decoy FCS LWF and also having not seen Decoy previously my brain couldn’t figure out what was about to happen to me. Lets also ignore that there was a Lambda Omicron Pilot with Fleet Officer and Electronic Baffle.. because that’s what I did.
I repeated the opening maneuvres from the previous game with Ashley- ‘4’ straights with the Double Edge bait while my QD and Vessery turn followed by s-loop/k-turn into position but ohno why did I send doubleedge that high up on his own ohnoooo!! Then this happened: Decoy to get Vessery to PS9, tractor beam him closer to his QD with -1 agility. Into range one infact so Ruthlessness triggers taking a shield from QD meaning he takes his ability-shot then back to Vessery for the Tie D-primary shot and back to his QD who is sitting now at PS6. Pewpew. Double Edge gone before he got to show off his TLT.
I managed to hold out for near-on the remainder of the game with some lovely maneuvering and generally I was happy with my piloting decisions most of the time sooo go me! But alas, I lost 100-12. I’d like to thank Thomas for the half points on the shuttle. I really can’t take credit for the 7 damage it took when I only dealt 1 of those and the others were from Baffling- I really couldn’t have done it without him :’)
We’ve ran out of prizes for correct guesses at what maneuvre is dialed in for both Defenders. Sorry.
What can I take from this
Firstly I’m so glad to see that I’m getting a hang of these maneuvre templates and that my practice is coming into good effect away from the kitchen counter. I have to regularly check in with myself- a base is a ‘1’ straight, range 2 is a ‘5’ striaght etc. I know this is elementary to most but this information and my personal pep-talk is invaluable to my game right now. Secondly if a ‘2’ straight will do but a ‘3’ might fit but I’m not sure and it’s not that important at this stage in the game keep it simple. My opponent today couldn’t get a shot on Double Edge because he marginally bumped a rock and the TLT wreaked havoc for the rest of the game.
Working points: I know these games aren’t supposed to be stressful and I have enough stress at work but I think right now that in combination with going to these competitions where I don’t know anyone and everyone has there this Squadron and that Squadron tshirts and affliations and just wanting to get involved with discussions and chatter, I feel like a bit of an outsider. I hope that this initial anxiety settles as I become more assure of my game, more experienced with the game and get to know this great community more.
Thanks to all those at Warboar Games, they really look after you down there. Table service is 5*!
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Bit about me. I started playing in April 2017- pre- Wave 11 Nym/Bomblet Generator and have been playing games at home with my flatmate as well as regularly at my LGS Dark Sphere in Lambeth, London. I enjoy wading through the X-wing blogs, podcasts, subreddit and youtube content. My aim isn’t to ace this hobby, just keeping it casual.. only now I’m writing blog posts! If you see me around say hey. At tournaments you’ll find me around the bottom tables or looking a little lost around the top ones! 😉
Squadron! Squadron 