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.

50% luck, 50% skill and 50% list!

Any decent game is going to have several elements to it, here's my thoughts.

Luck.

Builds can be made to minimise the randomness of the dice involved but luck will always be a factor, when attacking or defending if you roll all one's (or blanks) then you're in trouble!

Skill.

A good list commanded poorly will still lose, adversely a weak list controlled brilliantly can exceed it's “on paper” expectations.

List.

The other side of the luck coin. List synergy and prowess is a major factor, a well built list can negate some events of pilot skill.

Take a look at the old game of snakes and ladders, this is entirely luck. Any player could win regardless of their grasp of the game as each and every action is random, decided by the roll of the dice. Then Compare this to chess, an entirely different game. Both players have exactly the same forces and there is no element of luck whatsoever, the game is won or lost completely with yours and your opponents skill.

Many tabletop top games combine the above attributes and then go on to add list building. Imagine playing a game of chess using only the eight pawns whilst your opponent used only the eight back row pieces, that would be a very one sided game.

Tanks!

Opening up "Tanks" from Gale Force Nine, it's a cool little game with great models and a simple lightweight game system.

Not meant to be a simulation of any kind, Tanks is for 30 minutes of easy going gaming. The full colour rule book is only 22 pages and a fair bit of that is pictures helping to explain the mechanics.

Anyone who has played X-Wing the miniatures game will recognise many familiar aspects in this game from the (simplified) movement template to the crew and upgrade cards you can buy for your chosen tank(s) it's all laid out on the cards and a reference sheet, only needing the actual rule book for double checking bits.

The tank cards included in the core set.

The core set comes with a load of cards for a variety of tanks, including all the possible builds from the three tank sprues included.

Damage, crew and upgrade cards.

After you have selected your tank, you can then add a variety of upgrades including crew and mechanical options for a wide variety of choice. You might be able to build a (100 point) list of 5 basic tanks or maybe 2 highly skilled and we'll equipped versions of the same vehicles.

The models in the set (and the expansions) are multi part plastic kits and will require some assembly, the Sherman and Jagd/Panther models can be built in several variations, which is great. Whilst well detailed they are basic, you won't need to build all the track and suspension assemblies!

Tokens and terrain.

The starter set also comes with a ton of tokens & counters for keeping track of things and a selection of cardboard scenery, two wooded area terrain pieces and four buildings! Everything you need to get up and running.

All this for the very reasonable price of £18 ;)

A bit random!

Looking briefly at the difference between luck and skill games and hybrids.

Games like the ancient favourite - Chess evolve no luck whatsoever and a set "army" so no player has an unfair advantage over the other. On the other hand you might have a game like snakes & ladders, being a simpler game but based entirely on luck.

Some selections will be better than others.

Games involving only skill and judgement are very common and very old, chess is a prime example of this type of game. In each game of chess no player has an advantage (as long as their opponent knows the rules) and only decisions made by a player can effect the game. There are no random elements like die rolling that can augment or indeed scupper an action. Each player begins with the same "list" and knows exactly what they are going to face. In short the game is won or lost entirely dependent upon your decisions and actions, a killing move will not be foiled by an unlucky roll, only by a more tactically minded opponent.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, we have games based completely on luck. The traditional game of snakes and ladders is a good example of this. Again no player has any advantage (if they roll dice to see who goes first) and unlike chess, none of the players can influence their random chances of winning the game.

Then we have the bit in the middle . . .

Although this isn't a "bit" it's a vast collection of games, untold thousands of games with a vast array of options from "list building" where you normally select the forces or equipment that you are going to use and then how and where (or when) you plan to deploy your chosen list, deck or army. Then there is more often than not, a random element to the game too, a soldier might need to roll 4 or more to hit their target, an Eldrazi monster will need to be selected at random from a deck of cards.

In order to be successful at many modern games, you will have to select your forces carefully, choosing units or characters that may augment or compliment each other. Many abilities that particular units have will bolster other units or have detrimental effects on opposing forces.

Then after selecting your choice of forces, you will need to deploy them and maneuver them in an effective manor. A powerful and heavily armed spaceship will not prevail if piloted badly and it may soon be outmaneuvered and destroyed by a lesser ship flown by the better pilot.

Then there is the random bit. A great many games feature a random element, it might be quite insignificant or it might be a major part of the game. Often this will evolve regular dice, sometimes custom or specialist dice. Another popular mechanic is cards, these will invariably be shuffled to introduce randomness. Normally this is introduced to represent strengths and weaknesses amongst your troops. Your soldier has been expertly moved forward to take that headshot, aims, pulls the trigger - then you roll a 1 - what can you do?

So all you have to do is select the best ship for the job, fly it proficiently and be lucky with the dice rolls.

Or at least - better than the other guy!

Casual or competetitive?

For all my years playing games it's become apparent to me that there are two broad categories of gamer.

1. Casual players are kind of in it for the explosions, the cinematic experience or maybe just want to get out of the house for a few hours.
2. Competitive players want to win, burn and/or crush all opposition and hear the lamentations of their women significant other halves.

I should point out that these two categories are very broad with a lot of crossover and hybrids of the two.

I don't care, I was enjoying it!

Over the years I've seen many heated discussions about the two incarnations and their awkward match-up in game, I've been involved in a couple myself. I believe one of the problems is (for example) that casual players prefer thematic lists or builds, which can often be suboptimal and although whilst they definitely follow the 'rule of cool' will sometimes find themselves to be less equal than others.

On the other side of the coin are the competitive players, these are the ones who'll not necessarily follow a theme or historical formation, but they'll investigate the meta of the game in question and learn to (was going to say "exploit") maximise the use of effective options or units within the available parameters.

So, who's right and who's wrong?

I don't believe either side (or any hybrid) is wrong, both are very valid approaches to the vast majority of games and both can be very rewarding to those who seek the experience they offer. They can however quite often be wrong for each other!


When competitive meets casual it can often end in tears/rage but why?

This is generally because in most game systems a competitive and well structured force will beat a poorly structured force 9 times out of 10, regardless of the skill of the commanders involved. For example (in Bolt action) a force of inexperienced partisans whilst they may be very thematic and poorly equipped with pistols, shotguns and a handful of rifles are going to find it very difficult to fight off a force of well trained and equipped German FallschirmJager veterans with their wide array of weapons including the devastating assault rifle. The partisans might be a more realistic representation of some hapless chaps during WW2 and the FallschirmJager would represent a less realistic force, but optimised within the rules. So even though both sides are supposedly equal - one is more equal than the other and quite likely to win (barring atrocious luck.)

• This peculiar system of unbalanced fairness is present in a great many game systems, in fact any system where you might be able to choose what your deck or army is going built from.
• For the casual player - they're going to be faced with min/maxing, rules lawyers, cheese mongers who are no fun and only here to "Win At All Costs".
• Whereas the competitive player is facing a historical buff or reckless fool who doesn't seem to know what they're doing (and possibly just wasting your time!)

So both are right AND both are wrong in varying degrees.

I like to think that a good example of an antithesis of these phenomena is the age old game of chess, both players will have exactly the same starting lineup and limited movement options. This will show if one player has a better tactical brain than the other. Also there's no luck via dice or cards in the game so there can be no "rubbish dice rolling."

I should add now that I am a casual player in any and all games I play, I often choose a force or get a "really cool idea" and run with it, regardless of its success or lack thereof. I choose to play things and lists that I like, sometimes this can work out for me, but I must admit - it generally doesn't :)

Have you seen my mojo?

We all do it, lose our will or motivation, lose momentum or simply get distracted by something else.

Aylsham show 2015

So what can you do when you've lost your "mojo" and have that absurd combination of wanting painted models but not having the determination to actually paint them? For some this might be the painting, for others the building or it could be the daunting overwhelming of it all! Here's a few ideas . . .

1. Try something completely different!

• Are you getting fed up of brown World War II infantry? Paint something sci-fi or brightly coloured.
• Sick of all those eyes or similarly difficult piece? Try painting a vehicle or a building.
• Reduced to tears gluing together hundreds of tiny arms, legs and guns? Why not something with a (single piece) fully cast miniature.

2. Google it! (Other search engines are available.)

• As obvious as it sounds, go to whichever browser you like and do a search on the item(s) you want to work on, it just might throw up some inspirational results.

3. Lights, camera, action!

• Go turn on the TV and see if you can find (preferably) a film, documentary or program relating to your subject matter. 

4. Just a little?

• This often works for me, I just decide that I'm going to build/paint one thing or even half of it. Maybe do some basing or repair a broken item. Just go for something that's going to take five or ten minutes, for me this is easy and -often- triggers an enthusiastic surge.

5. Speak to your friends.

• This is another one I find very effective. I can talk to others about their works in progress and see what they are doing (or have done) and often this will spur me into action, particularly with mass infantry.
• Often friends will provide positive motivation if they think/realise you're struggling with getting anything done.

6. Get out!

• This can be easier said than done, but go and visit a place of inspiration.
• Historical gamers can find these in many forms, museums or military collections being prime examples.
• Sci-fi inspiration can be a little trickier to find out in the real world, maybe try locating a technology or eco centre that allows visitors.
• Fantasy players and painters might look to old local architecture for inspiration or s visit into the wild countryside (if you have any nearby.)

My Ultra Pro Gravity Dice

I'm just doing a post to try direct video upload and I'd thought I'd show off my Ultra Pro "Gravity dice" in the process.

I've always had a bit of a thing for dice and I have quite an extensive collection of them in all shapes, sizes and colours. One of my prized sets is a matching collection of Chessex poly dice and D6's (they're very nice.)

But a while back Athena ordered in a couple of sets of some rather special dice, with a rather special price tag of £20 for the pair in a very nice magnetic storage box. These are the most expensive dice I've ever bought, but they are particularly cool!

The two dice in their open storage box (with packaging)

Here's the 'blurb' from the back of the box:
"Gravity Dice are premium precision gaming dice made from high quality, aircraft-grade aluminum. Each die has a perfect center of gravity and chamfered edges for extended rolls. Both dice are hard anodized, laser etched and designed to enhance your gaming experience."

The dice are surprisingly light, being made from aircraft aluminum (whatever that is) and have a nice feel about them, very cold and smooth. Rather peculiarly one has solid dots whilst the other has small circles denoting the "number" rolled. The case is extremely sturdy and has a very strong magnetic clasp which is very satisfying to those that like that sort of thing (me!)

Oh my, what have I done?

I am hoping to start work on a blog, just a collection of (what I think is) cool stuff.

Building, painting, playing and general funky stuff!

I started gaming with Judge Dredd back in 1984 with my brother when I was a mere 11 years old! Judge Dredd was absolutely awesome and provided countless hours of entertainment for us both. Warhammer 40,000 shortly followed and was a revolution for me, leading to me going out and expanding my limited (and rather awkward) social circles :)

The next few years bought HeroQuest, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (RPG), Blood Bowl and the legendary Space Hulk!

Then . . .

. . . life happened . . .

. . . fast forward 22 years to 2012 and I saw my little brother had returned to gaming with his 40K Orks! This caused an awakening in me, I suddenly really -needed- to play games again. I joined a local gaming club Aftermath and discovered a whole new world. It was here that I first experienced Bolt Action which absolutely blew me away, it was like the early editions of 40K but set in the real world, world war 2. This led onto to other games and more friends and (for me) a new lease of life.

Then in 2015 I was lucky enough to get a job at my FLGS Athena Games and have been enjoying that fusion of job and hobby ever since!

So here I am writing an intro to a blog, I'll add more details to my back story as time goes by and post my toys, painting, building and thoughts as I go. I hope I'll reach to you and make you smile or maybe just help you (a tiny bit) through your day.