On The Rocks: A guide to asteroids in X wing
Episode 1: Building a list
Episode 2: Obstacles
Episode 3: Deployment
After the feedback I got from the UK X-Wing group it seems that my latest venture into the world of writing about plastic Pew Pew is going to be on obstacles!
Some of you newer to the game may be wondering why I’m taking the time to do an article purely based before you set up your ships. If you are, I highly recommend reading this series of articles here by Mr Heaver (name drop AHOY). He lays out the basics very well and it’s a great place to start. In the meantime, here are my tips and advice for setting up obstacles at the start of the game.
Which rocks do I take???
There are 18 seperate obstacles to choose from , all in respective core sets and expansions. 12 asteroids and 6 different types of debris. Roughly, they can be broken down into these sections.
The first question you might ask is “Which is best?” The answer changes entirely depending on what you are looking to fly and what kind of player you are.
Pilot skill
If you are a new player, you might want to take the smallest asteroids available. Focus on getting your ships in the correct positions without having to worry about flying space debris on top of your opponent’s laser cannons.
Many of the more experienced players I talk to (myself included) swear by the large set of asteroids. The view being that ‘I can fly my ships well enough. It might put off my opponent having large obstacles in their way.’ The small advantage this gives you might be enough to get you through the first rounds and into the big leagues.
Ship types
Other reasons for choosing obstacles is the type of ship you’re flying. Dash Rendar ignores the effects of any obstacle in the activation phase but cruicially NOT the combat phase. That means that he might not take any damage, but he still can’t shoot if he’s sitting on top of an asteroid. On the other hand, debris fields have no effect on him at all.
Most dash players use the largest debris possible to make life arkward for their opponent. While simultaneously drinking their tears as they zoom through unscathed. *Cue maniacal laughter*
Other ships that don’t care for stress such as the Party bus and Tycho Celchu (who?) can play the same game. Landing on a debris field and doing nothing more than adding to their trail of stress tokens.
Finally, if you are flying many ships like the Tie Swarm or three Jumpmaster-5000 you may prefer to go with the small asteroids. This clears as much board space as possible to allow you to fly in a tight formation.
What about your opponent???
Something people often forget about is what is most likely to give your ships trouble. For example, if you are flying a swarm and you take debris fields, Dash will run circles around you. If you take large asteroids and place them strategically, suddenly your job becomes much easier as your opponent needs to choose between repositioning and actions.
As general rule of thumb if you’re really scared of a certain list then think...
“What rocks would I use if I was flying that list?”
Then do the opposite!
Obstacle Placement
There isn’t a hard and fast rule for this but there are some ways to influence the flow of a game. Again, it’s important not to make life difficult for yourself at the first step. The way you set up your asteroids should be down to
- How you like to fly
- What ships you are flying
- What ships your opponent is flying
Cuddly Corners
One of the basics of asteroid placement is knowing how to keep them out of the way. Placing an asteroid as close to the corner as possible or a range ‘2-2’ is the easiest way to do this.
This Setup allows you to increase space you have to fly in. Even if your opponent is trying to deny you that space.
The other reason for this deployment is to deny large ships a free path around the edge of the board with a 3 bank and boost. Allowing you to trap them in the corners. I’m looking at you Mr Solo…
Remember that you can place ANY of the six obstacles you are using for the game. If you’re looking to keep the board clean it’s usually a good idea to put your opponents large rocks in the corners.
Let’s make it messy!
Now, if you are the kind of person that doesn’t like to be told the odds, flies by the seat of their pants and eats an asteroid field for breakfast. Maybe you want to make the board a little more cluttered.
The best way to start this is by placing a large rock right in the centre of the board. Or by placing one just inside range 3 of each edge. This prevents your opponent from placing a rock right in the corner, leaving the edges of the board a little more free, with the middle nice and messy.
Divide and conquer
My squadron mate Benjamin Lee swears by the ‘Magic Roundabout’. He places one rock in the middle of the board and surrounds it with his other two rocks. Creating channels that ships have to fly down. This splits his opponents forces into these channels, or means they all come from a single direction. Making them disordered, predictable and much easier to kill.
Forcing a tie swarm to come and get you through a dense asteroid field is a much better idea than jousting it in open space. It requires a pilot of considerable skill to get all of his ships pointing in the same direction while worrying about a three story space boulder two inches away from your cockpit.
You are the master of your own fate
So now you know all of this, what use is it? If you can put all of this together in the couple of minutes before a game it can make your life much easier and your opponent’s harder.
Simple things like:
If you are playing against a jumpmaster, remember that they like to turn left.
If you want to joust in the middle of the board, keep your asteroids to the edges.
Here are a couple of examples of how I set up obstacles with some different lists…
Having placed all three of my asteroids at range 2 from the bottom of the board. I have allowed the A wing swarm lots of space to block and bully my opponent. A single 5 straight and boost eliminates 50% of the obstacles from my game. I really like this setup for a YV-666 as it allows you to blast past most of the obstacles on turn one and focus on murderising your opponent.
I placed each of my rocks at 3–3 allowing me to keep flying around the board edge with Han. The centre of the board littered with obstacles for Jake to weave through as he pleases.
Well… There you have it. A guide to obstacles in competitive x wing. There is much more to say on the subject but it is much better to learn yourself.
Try using the asteroids to cover your approach with a squishy ship such as the new Tie Striker.
Or even set up an asteroid field on your kitchen table at home and try to weave your way in between them to improve your flying.
Now get out there and try it!
I am going to be doing two more articles like this, one on building a list and another on ship deployment. So if you found this useful, stay tuned, theres more to come!
Fly casual all.
Oli.
