Just a quick post to show how easy it is to paint masked acrylic templates, these particular ones are for X-Wing. 

You can be as messy as you like, just make sure you get paint into all the nooks and crannies then peel off the mask and it looks really neat and tidy.

The Lancer pursuit craft

I bought one of these several months ago and really like it in X-Wing the miniatures game. So much so, I had to get a second one!

My first one I modified a little and Maverick miniature studios painted it superbly for me.

Painted by Maverick miniature studios. 

Now we shall see what I can manage with this one.

I began with chopping off the tiny turret and cutting out a small part of the underside to get the ring magnet attached firmly to the ship. Then I sprayed the entire hull in metallic silver, this is just the base and will feature details later.

Magnets from Green stuff world. 

Whilst the spray paint is drying I set about building a new turret. This is two .50 cal machine guns from a WW2 model attached into a small ceramic disc which in turn was superglued onto a magnet to mount onto the upper hull magnet.

The magnetised D.I.Y. turret assembly. 

I kept the original turret and glued that onto the top of the 2 machine guns primarily for extra strength but it also looks pretty cool. The assembly was then spray primed black for painting later.

Had a bit of an afterthought and added a couple of more bits. I don't know what the pods on the sides are but mine are now weapon bays!

A harpoon and a flamethrower!

Now for painting some details. Here I tried two new (to me) ideas, using shade (or ink) over white for the cockpit glass which I think looks pretty good and then using green and red gemstone paints over silver on the cockpit surround and the front cannons, this gives us a metallic finish.

Adding detail and effects.

Almost there.

Finally got it finished the only problem is now that I have to practice imperials until the U.K. teams championship (I lost a bet)

The two girls (both female pilots) side by side.

UK X-Wing nationals 2017

I took the leap and decided to enter my first big tournament this year the UK X-Wing nationals.

I've been dithering a bit lately about my list, trying one or two variations on it during the last few weeks but eventually decided to go back to a favourite I've been flying for a while now.

Protectorate Starfighter: · Fenn Rau (28)
Attanni Mindlink (1)
Autothrusters (2)
Concord Dawn Protector (1)
Lancer-class Pursuit Craft: · Asajj Ventress (37)
Attanni Mindlink (1)
· Latts Razzi (2)
Burnout SLAM (1)
M3-A Interceptor: · Inaldra (15)
Attanni Mindlink (1)
"Light Scyk" Interceptor (-2)
M3-A Interceptor: · Sunny Bounder (14)
"Light Scyk" Interceptor (-2)
-- TOTAL ------- 99/100p. --

I set out at 05:00 on Friday morning  hoping for 3-3 (and not getting disqualified 😂) and arrived home 23:45 Sunday night having managed 4-2 and finishing 85/267 which I'm immensely pleased with!

Managed to gain several really cool bits of swag and had some great games with a lot of great people. 6 hangar bay games on Friday, 6 tournament rounds on Saturday and 5 hangar bay games on Sunday.

Glad I made notes and took pictures because it's all a hedonistic blur now.

Round 1 I found myself facing a familiar duo.

T-70 X-Wing: · Poe Dameron (33)
Veteran Instincts (1)
· R5-P9 (3)
Autothrusters (2)
· Black One (1)
Pattern Analyzer (2)
YT-1300: · Han Solo (46)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Engine Upgrade (4)
· Rey (2)
· C-3PO (3)
· Millennium Falcon (Evade) (1)
-- TOTAL ------- 99/100p. --

I managed a win here 57-35 a comfortable start to the day and I felt vaguely optimistic!

Round 2 another familiar list very similar to my own.

Lancer-class Pursuit Craft: · Ketsu Onyo (38)
Attanni Mindlink (1)
· Dengar (3)
· Shadow Caster (3)
Lancer-class Pursuit Craft: · Asajj Ventress (37)
Attanni Mindlink (1)
· Latts Razzi (2)
M3-A Interceptor: · Inaldra (15)
Attanni Mindlink (1)
"Light Scyk" Interceptor (-2)
-- TOTAL ------- 99/100p. --

A drastically different outcome here though! My opponent new what he was doing here and well and truly schooled me in how to fly the Lancer pursuit craft. Annihilating me 0-100.

Round 3 I met Miranda & Nym, I caused a fair bit of damage but no half points on Nym 😠

Scurrg H-6 Bomber: · Captain Nym (30)
  Veteran Instincts (1)
  Twin Laser Turret (6)
  · Bomblet Generator (3)
  Engine Upgrade (4)
  · Havoc (0)
  Accuracy Corrector (3)
  · "Genius" (0)
K-Wing: · Miranda Doni (29)
  Extra Munitions (2)
  Homing Missiles (5)
  Twin Laser Turret (6)
  Cluster Mines (4)
  Thermal Detonators (3)
  Advanced SLAM (2)
  · Sabine Wren (2)
-- TOTAL ------- 100/100p. --

This was my second disaster in a row! 0-100 and I've got to admit it knocked the wind from my sails somewhat. A friend said he was going to drop to play side events and I very nearly joined him.

Round 4 I persevered and met a favourite paired with another Captain Nym!

Scurrg H-6 Bomber: · Captain Nym (30)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Extra Munitions (2)
Twin Laser Turret (6)
Cluster Mines (4)
Cluster Mines (4)
Long-Range Scanners (0)
· Havoc (0)
· R5-P8 (3)
Lancer-class Pursuit Craft: · Asajj Ventress (37)
Push The Limit (3)
Gyroscopic targeting (2)
· Dengar (3)
· Shadow Caster (3)
Black Market Slicer Tools (1)
-- TOTAL ------- 99/100p. --

This was a peculiar game, I lost both my M3's quite early and hammered his Lancer soon afterwards but I could not get that Nym! They are my nemesis! I managed a 26-49 win however.

Round 5 featured Imperial ships that I've been practicing with recently and that may have helped me a little.

TIE Advanced: · Darth Vader (29)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Cruise Missiles (3)
Guidance Chips (0)
TIE/x1 (0)
Advanced Targeting Computer (1)
TIE Aggressor: · "Lieutenant Kestal" (22)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Cruise Missiles (3)
Twin Laser Turret (6)
Guidance Chips (0)
TIE/sf Fighter: · "Quickdraw" (29)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Fire Control System (2)
Special Ops Training (0)
Weapons Guidance (2)
-- TOTAL ------- 100p. --

I lost my poor Sunny Bounder and Inaldra in the battle (again) but other than that managed a strong 100-26.

Round 6 was a peculiar surprise for me, four Tie aggressors with TLT.

TIE Aggressor: Sienar Specialist (17)
Twin Laser Turret (6)
Lightweight Frame (2)
TIE Aggressor: Sienar Specialist (17)
Twin Laser Turret (6)
Lightweight Frame (2)
TIE Aggressor: Sienar Specialist (17)
Twin Laser Turret (6)
Lightweight Frame (2)
TIE Aggressor: Sienar Specialist (17)
Twin Laser Turret (6)
Lightweight Frame (2)
-- TOTAL ------- 100p. --

I think having a mighty lot of experience flying TLT's in the past really helped me here. I often find ramming formations is a useful tactic and when they couldn't shoot me with their turrets it enabled a 100-12 victory for me.

All in all I ended up 4-2 and a very happy little pilot! It exceeded even my most optimistic hope of 3-3 and earned me 85th place out of 267 competitors which is something I can be proud of! I might add that following my brutal murder in round 2 I bought myself a second Lancer pursuit craft 😋

It's a whopper!

On Friday 15th of September I'm off to Liverpool with a group of friends to take part in the UK X-Wing nationals!

It's going to be a long weekend with a departure from home at 05:00 on Friday and I'm expecting to make it back to my own bed around midnight on Sunday. The plan is hangar bay games on Friday (choosing 1 of two lists each round) followed by the main event on Saturday, probably 7 rounds of X-Wing, capped off with knockout rounds for the top 64 on Sunday or (more likely for me) more hangar bay games.

Me being me I'm still not entirely sure what ships I want to take, certainly Fenn Rau in his Protectorate starfighter and Asajj Ventress in the mighty Lancer pursuit craft.  But there my certainty ends! My brain is telling me to use a few more upgrades and Genesis Red in the M3a but my heart is saying to go with my much loved Sunny Bounder and a compromise with Inaldra (both in M3a's)

My two possible lists

There's just one more thing.  I'm also planning on squeezing in an imperial list in order to practice for the UK team championship next month, but I'll very likely leave that until Sunday hangar bay games.

A wretched hive!

So I've been playing X-Wing almost exclusively for several months now and taken a liking to the 'Scum and villainy faction.

The Rebellion and the Empire (or the Resistance and the First Order?) are the main protagonists of the mighty franchise and the films, leaving Scum and villainy (S&V) somewhat in the shadow of the "stars." S&V aren't so much a clear cut faction but more a collection of freelancers, smugglers, bounty hunters and various other miscreants.

Fenn Rau charges at his enemy. 

My first foray into S&V was with some borrowed ships including Fenn Rau who was my first "ace" and has been a mainstay of my list ever since.

Whilst Rebels tend to favour tanky & defensive ships and the Imperial fleet certainly leans towards agile fighters, S&V seem to have a wider and more appealing range of ships at its disposal, including big lumps and nippy fighters alongside bizarre freighters and utility craft that were not initially intended to take part in space battles.

Standby for details on my ships in the near future.

Stealth bomber!

I decided I wanted to paint one of my favourites from X-Wing, the mighty K-Wing!

For a while I'd thought that I quite fancy a peculiar mat & gloss kind of look, so after a quick spray of black primer I just needed to paint some details in so that I didn't come across as utterly lazy.

I even stretched to painting the ordinance on the underside of the main wings and weathering the landing skids.

Will anyone ever see the underside?

You can see some of the mat/gloss variation here as well as the GW gemstone paint used on the cockpit canopies.

Red for left (port) and green for right (starboard.)

I thought I'd be brave and try out the glow effect that I've seen several other people doing recently on plasma weapons and such like. I'm quite happy with the results, but think maybe an additional layer of colour change in it will look better next time.

My first attempt at ,"plasma glow".

This is the second of my three K-Wings now custom painted, gotta decide on a scheme for the third one.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (episode III)

So I've been playing X-Wing for a little while now and still really enjoy the game. It does seem as though I am reverting to type - exactly the same list FOREVER!

My custom painted K-Wing.

I am very lucky that there is such a great X-Wing community at Athena games (where I work) and I get plenty of opportunity to try new lists and new builds but regardless of the effectiveness of any other lists I try - I love my "triple K" list of Miranda Doni (painted by Maverick Mini Studios) and two Warden squadron K-Wings and struggle to change to using anything different. I'd quite like to custom paint whatever ships I do decide on, maybe a golden HWK (think C3PO) and a black & grey ARC-Fighter.

I think (daydream?) about having a list using Miranda alongside an incarnation of the upcoming ARC-fighter and some yet to be determined ship (although I keep looking at the HWK.)

So in the mean time I'll stick to using this list. The 2 points spent on a seismic charge are the only thing I change from game to game.

A tried and tested favourite.

p.s. I'm always on the lookout for tips and ideas :p

The free Kings

So it's the Athena X-Wing store championship and although I didn't do as well as was expected of me, I found the day very rewarding!

Squadron leader's prepare for battle.

I used my (notorious) three K-Wing list, with a borrowed C-3PO and Tactician.

#1Miranda Doni
C-3PO
Twin laser turret

#2Warden squadron pilot
Tactician
Twin laser turret

#3 Warden squadron pilot
Jan Ors
Twin laser turret

I've had mixed results using them in the past but losing isn't a big problem for me and they suit my preferred play style of plodding along shooting!

Game 1
In at the deep end against a well practised player using an Outrider and an intimidating Ghost!
Right from first contact this went badly both ships were well equipped and flown with skill, scattering my formation early on with a turn 3 kill on Miranda. The Warden pilots found themselves separated and easy prey for the monstrous Ghost.

Game 2
I found myself facing another Ghost! This one accompanied by it's attack shuttle and a Z-95.
This went somewhat better for me as the Ghost (with its huge base) bumped into asteroids a couple of times allowing me to pounce upon the Z-95 and fall back slightly to ambush the Ghost. With a combination of luck and TLT perseverance I had managed to  get the Ghost reduced to a single hull point before the attack shuttle launched. Once the Ghost was engulfed in a fireball, the lone shuttle couldn't survive for long.
Also this game was featured on the Athena game's stream table.

Game 3
Here I met another wave 8 ship - The Inquisitors Tie, he was accompanied by a Tie advanced and a Tie interceptor, all well outfitted.
I've got to admit I 'thought' this one was going to be a win for me! However as the Tie's hurtled towards my lumbering K-Wings, the lead Tie fired it's Proton rockets with +3 for 5 dice which combined with a couple of buffs resulted in a devastating pass on the Rebels! The Tie fighters seemed to run circles round me (ironic?) and I found them impossible to hit with their wide array of skills and abilities, "Juke" being a new and unpleasant experience for me!

Game 4
Here I met one of the Athena regulars whom I haven't had a chance to play against yet.
I made an error early in the game here, Miranda lagged behind the formation and Chris' X-Wing and Z-95's descended upon her with an unrivaled fury! Chris utilised "Tracer threads" to great effect, their hit endowing target locks upon the attackers allies. The formation made one pass (that's all they needed) and reduced my squadron leader to a flaming wreck with ease. My two surviving ships then pulled themselves together and led the enemy formation on a trail of destruction through and around the obstacles. But right from the moment where they struck down Miranda, I was on the defensive and I did all I could just to destroy his X-Wing before being defeated.

Game 5
Looking across at SEVEN Tie fighters was rather unsettling, with more than twice my numbers I reckoned I  was going to be in trouble here.
My K's move along my right flank and the Tie swarm swung around and homed in on the rear ship (Miranda) - this is where the dice gods smiled upon me! I lost count of how many attack die came up blank, it seemed as though the Imperial pilots had been out on the beer the previous night. Although they were being flown well and in tight formation, they just kept on missing. Turn after turn this continued, with my K's managing to destroy an enemy fighter each turn until it became apparent that the I was winning this war of attrition.

Game 6
Here I met more wave 8 goodness in the form a Misthunter with the intriguing "tractor beam" (which I now want.)
Our squadrons both charged straight at each other and a pair of Kihraxz fighter's unleashed cluster missiles (I need to try these out too) to great effect bringing down a Warded pilot and causing a lot of damage to Miranda. Luckily I managed to Zapp a Z-95 in this pass and get into position on a couple of the other scum ships and thinned out his numbers somewhat.
We ended up with a single K-Wing and a single Kihraxz fighter on the table, both desperately trying to outmaneuver the other. Then I had a "use the the force, Luke" moment, but in this reality it was Dave saying "Slam, Shaun - SLAM!" (for the hundredth time.) I've always been very reluctant to "not shoot" but in this situation it enabled my lumbering K to outflank a more agile fighter and win the day.

So I ended up mid table with 3 wins and 2 loses, but more importantly a received my very own C-3PO crew card (top 32 prize) that I really need for my squadron and had some great games with some great players. I experienced a few new things to, notably SLAMming and being on the receiving end of the new tractor beam upgrade. This allows the attacker (with a successful hit) to move an enemy ship 1 forward or 1 barrel roll, which I thought was great (as I was bounced onto nearby asteroids) and is certainly something I'm going to invest in.

Thoughts for the day . . .

1. Cluster missiles are savage.
2. Use tractor beams, hilarity will ensue.
3. I learned that sometimes (just sometimes) it pays to maneuver.

Miranda Doni get's attacked by a solar farm!?

K-Wing's in the winter.

So I'd thought I'd be brave and try my luck in the Athena winter tournament, it went surprisingly well!

Miranda & Co, staying in formation as the enemy approaches.

I've used my three K-wings a few times lately and bought these to the tournament (Miranda Doni with Chewbacca & 2 x Warden squadron, one with Jan Ors and one with Nein Numb) all equipped with my favourite thing ever - twin laser turrets!

1st game.
I came up against a B & two A wings and was lucky enough to take out one of the A-wings in only the second turn followed by the destruction of the second A next turn!
This greatly stacked the odds in my favor with my 3 ships chasing down the lonely B-Wing.

2nd game.
This match-up had me facing a Firespray and a scary looking IG-2000. Luck played it's part again here when the larger ships struggled to fly through an asteroid field.
The Firespray became separated from its big buddy and my 3 ships descended upon it and managed to bring it down before the IG returned.
The IG-2000 came back into the fight and proved a fearsome beast, the dogfight between it and my three ships was lengthy and savage, but I managed to reduce it to a flaming wreck just as time was called on the round!

3rd game.
Here I met a regular at Athena and some more familiar ships, T70's and a Y-Wing.
The Y-Wing used a fixed secondary weapon, allowing it to fire (front arc only) and then fire it's primary weapon too, this turned out to be a devastating ability.
The Y-Wing quickly dispatched my lead K whilst the T70's ran circles around the other two. I had to endure the savaging I was receiving from this experienced player.

4th game.
Again another regular Athenian! But with some new (to me) hardware. Darth Vader's Tie advanced accompanied by Soontir Fel in a Tie interceptor and (the painful bit) Emperor Palpatine in an imperial shuttle.
That nasty Sith lord Palpatine is a force to be reckoned with, having the ability to 'force' a reroll of any dice once every turn. This (along with my opponents skills) ensured the demise of my mighty K-Wings.

5th game.
I knew from the start that this was going to be my toughest of the day.
I faced another Miranda Doni, an X-Wing, a turret locked Y-Wing and a Z-95. Both squadrons rushed headlong at each other and engaged in deadly combat! One of my Wardens fell as the other took on the X-Wing and Z-95.
The two incarnations of Miranda merged upon each other as the other ships fell to the side and began a mini war of attrition!
They circled and zapped each other for several turns with both holding their own, until the surviving enemy ship returned to deal the coup de' grace.

In the end . . .
I had a great day with 4 great games and I never imagined I could have managed to land 4th place. I'm looking to refine my list a little (Nein Numb wasn't used) before my next tournament which will hopefully be the store championship at the end of the month.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (episode II)

So I've realised I love Star Wars and I've got my hands on the new force awakens core set, so what do I get next?

Well I've never been the most serious sort of gamer (or person) so I thought to myself "what looks like it'll be awesome?"

T70 X-Wing.
My first thoughts were that the T70 XWing looked better than original T65 - pretty forward thinking for an old, original trilogy fan? So that's what triggered my first decision to go with the new "Force Awakens" core set.

Having played a few games now, I've come to realise the T70 is a very capable all round ship, able to take the punishment dealt out to it as well as being able to hit others pretty hard (especially at close range).

A-Wing.
Then I thought about the A-Wing, it's a ship that appealed to me and I'd heard they were nimble little fighters, so I decided that two of those would be my next step.

With a little experience I have discovered the A-Wing is fast and agile, but lacks any real punch. Whilst I am able to lower their base points to a mere 15 using a Chardaan refit card, I feel they need a little something to help them survive an encounter with hostile forces.

K-Wing.
I knew absolutely nothing of this larger ship before buying it, I'd not seen one in action and of course being from the expanded universe, I hadn't seen one in any of the films either. But I'm thinking "look at the size of that thing! I need one".

Having flown this a few times now, I love it! The K-Wing is rather slow and cumbersome and it's maneuvere dial allows little in the way of fancy turns & rolls. But the thing is a flying tank, it can take a beating and especially when equipped with the twin laser turret upgrade it can pose a serious threat to enemy fighters.

So, what's next?
At the moment I'm thinking another T70 might be a good thing, 3 of them can easily make up 100 points and they seem like they are decent enough ships in game. But I've gotta say - K-Wings are my kinda lump! I'm certain I'll be getting 1 or 2 more of these and slowly but surely I'll be dodging asteroids and zapping bad guys with those turret mounted lasers ;)

The mighty K-Wing in action

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (episode I)

I've always loved Star Wars, it's the first film I ever saw in the cinema and like so many I've grown up with what was a truly ground breaking trilogy (yeah I know). The Jedi knights leading the rebellion against the evil empire (it's all a matter of perspective) and of course SPACE SHIPS!

A demo game I played at Dark Sphere (London)

These ships were different though, not all shiny and new, most of them were grubby and sometimes didn't even work - Millennium falcon, I'm looking at you! The story was perhaps a little familiar in places but some of the ideas and characters were totally revolutionary!

I'd seen games of XWing being played and greatly admired the rather nicely pre-painted ships, the titular XWings dog fighting the menacing Tie fighters along with all the other memorable ships from the (first three) films. I though to myself "I could enjoy this" . . .

The release of Episode VII The force awakens, saw a huge increase in XWing players at Athena games where I work and I thought to myself, it's time to jump on that band wagon!

Well the game itself is quite easy to get into, it doesn't require a huge capital investment (which is often a problem) the core set is just £30 for either original or The force awakens versions and contains everything you need to start playing straight out of the box.

You'll get a great XWing and two Tie fighters, all rather nicely painted. Tons of markers, templates, counters & cards and 3 of each attack and evade dice (4 would have been ideal).

I managed to bump two ships into the same asteroid!

The basic premise of the game is to move as per your ships available maneuvers and shoot your opponents ship when in range - dead simple but that's the beauty of this game. There's normally very little in the way of cover (you are in space) so you must think carefully about your closing speeds and position. Ideally you want to be able to get the first shots in! The game also uses a mechanic where the lower skilled pilots move first but the higher skilled pilots will shoot first, so things can start to get a little more complicated.

Like most people I didn't settle for the single T70 XWing in the core set, I got an additional one, then two AWings, this would comfortably make up the standard 100 points. I then got myself a KWing (massive flying tank) because i thought it looked awesome, to be honest I thought that of the other ships too.

My mighty KWing is mighty

To date i have only played a handful of games, but thoroughly enjoy it, I consider it my "lite" game, both in physical presence and cost when compared to my old friend Bolt action (think hundreds of Russian infantry)