X Wing Casual Day 8/7/17

And So It Begins

SavouryRain
Aug 8, 2017 · 5 min read

For my first blog post concerning my games I’ll go over my games from earlier today. I played a grand total of two games today; each were against the same opponent. We each flew two lists.


Game 1

My opponent flew the Fair Ship Rebels list (Biggs, Rex, Tarn, and Lowhhrick), while my list was

Control For Days

  • Ten Numb (VI, Ion Cannon, Accuracy Corrector, B-Wing/E2, Bistan)
  • Nien Nunb (Snap Shot, R3-A2, Integrated Astromech)
  • Jake Farrell (Intensity, A-Wing Test Pilot, Juke, and Chardaan Refit)

Now, before I even go into the batrep, I have to say: I adore Intensity Jake. Being able to close the gap as fast as he can (having access to a 5 green straight with a boost is simply amazing) is ridiculous. Additionally, being able to trigger his pilot ability twice (focus action to boost/BR, which triggers intensity, giving you a focus, which triggers Jake’s ability again to allow you to take the free action you didn’t already take) really makes Jake slippery.

I don’t remember exactly what happened, but the first couple of turns were the two of us attempting to bait each other into an engagement. I knew that I couldn’t survive a head-on joust with that list (seeing as the entire point of the list was to spread damage around to the point that it was inconsequential), so I attempted to get him to commit to a joust in the center while I was in actuality maneuvering to get a shot at his flank. Unfortunately, he ended up doing exactly what I didn’t want him to do, and so it left my B and X-Wing squared off against all 4 ships while my A-Wing raced down the side to get a flank. To add insult to injury, I’d even manage to pilot both of my ships straight into rocks. As luck would have it though, the red dice were not in my opponent’s favor, and Nien Nunb suffered all of 1 damage from the swarm.

The next turn was when it started to go my way: I ended up bumping Ten Numb against Lowhhrick and got to ion cannon Biggs. While this was going on, I was able to get Jake into a position to score a butt shot on Biggs at R1. The damage mitigation FSR has is so strong though, and led to most of the damage going to other pilots. The rest of the match was mostly me positioning Ten Numb to ionize Biggs while also trying to get Jake in a position to shoot the hell out of Biggs. Nien Nunb was pretty ineffectual due to my poor piloting. The game ended up going to final salvo, which I handily lost.


Game 2 involved different lists from each of us.

My opponent ran Emon Azzameen on the Firespray and Sol Sixxa on the Scurrg, while I ran

Reynsaw

  • Rey (Expertise, Kanan Jarrus, Finn, Millenium Falcon (HotR) title, Engine Upgrade)
  • Norra (Push the Limit, Tail Gunner, R2-D2, Alliance Overhaul)

All that I can really say is holy crap did I tank a lot of bombs to the face. First couple of turns involved me baiting the enemy to go the wrong way, and he did that time. Unfortunately, due to Emon and I think Bombardier, there was really no where I could run where Rey wouldn’t take a full cluster mine to the face. Luckily, I only rolled 3 hits. Norra, on the other hand, tanked a proton torp to the face. But, due to my flying, the opponent could never follow up on Norra, and so she slowly regenerated her shields back. Additionally, that tail gunner/overhaul/Norra’s pilot ability combo was really nice in doing damage to the other ships while running away to heal up.

The rest of the match was mostly each ship taking potshots. The highlight, for me, was when I just kept slooping Rey through a rock (thank you Kanan for keeping me cool under pressure) in order to get maximum damage on the Scurrg who was trying to bomblet me. Expertise + Finn + Rey’s rerolls is pretty damn disgusting, damage-wise. When the dust settled, the Scurrg was destroyed, leaving the Firespray limping along. It wasn’t much longer until I lined up a pincer move on him and ended up destroying him. All-in-all, I had a 100–31 MoV, which isn’t too shabby I think.


My main takeaway from both of these is that the first list is incredibly fun to fly. Giving almost guaranteed ion tokens out to small ships is stupid powerful, especially when the enemy has to stay in formation to reap the benefits (such as Biggs). In those cases, ionizing the anchor to the swarm effectively ionizes the whole swarm. Rey/Norra, on the other hand, isn’t as fun to fly, but feels really good to play. Having the ability to PtL (which is mainly used to power up Norra’s ability: focus then PtL to gain a target lock), regen, and put out respectable damage is nothing to to sneeze at. Plus, with Rey/Finn/Expertise, you can basically pump out 4 damage a turn from Rey alone.

Additionally, I realized that AC and Bistan on Ten Numb don’t work that well, because AC doesn’t allow additional modifications. So, I’ll switch it out for Fire-Control System instead and net myself a 1 point initiative bid.

I’ve made about 7 or 8 lists so far that I’ve flown, and I have to say that my first list (Control For Days) is probably my favorite one to fly, with my Ten Numb build pretty much my favorite ship build I’ve done. I’ve been toying with the ReyNsaw list (so named because Expertise Rey hits like a chainsaw, a phrase I found on r/XWingTMG, and because it contains Norra) by swapping out Engine Upgrade for Smuggling Compartment/Inertial Dampeners. So far, I like EU on her better than ID. Being able to boost my way out of a sticky situation (or boost my way into one) is pretty nice.

Ten Numb is a baller

Now, I’ve set a goal to win 3 of my matches in the casual league I’m in. I’m 1/3rd of the way there. I’ve been told that my casual league is actually home to a bunch of very good players. We even have one guy who’s played at a World Championship. Consequently, he rekt me hard in the one match I’ve played against him (a Ketsu Onyo/Dengar list I think).

SavouryRain

Written by

I’m a gamer at heart trying to just have fun.

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